WESSON — The MACJC State Champion Co-Lin Lady Wolves begin playtonight in the NJCAA Region 23 softball tournament at Traceway Parkin Clinton. The Lady Wolves are the No. 1 seed in thetournament.

The Lady Wolves, coached by Allen Kent, defeated the Gulf CoastLady Bulldogs 1-0 for the state title Tuesday. This was the secondstate title for Co-Lin in three years.

Co-Lin (28-10) gets a bye and plays at 5 p.m. today against thewinner of the 2 p.m. game between Northeast and East Central. GulfCoast (31-10) tackles the Hinds/LSU-Eunice winner, also at 5. Theregion champion advances to the NJCAA National Division IITournament at Normal, Ill.

Kent talked about playing either Northeast and East Central.

“Northeast has better pitching,” said Kent. “Both play gooddefense. Both swing the bats well. They are pretty evenly matched.Northeast has a good left-handed pitcher from Germany.”

Kent says the Lady Wolves are ready for the region and are alsogetting ready for exams next week.

“We are still on a real high positive note,” explained Kent.”They’re kind of catching up. We have exams next week. It is atough time for them. They are anxious to get back out there andstay on the win streak right now.”

Kent announced his starting lineup for tonight, except for rightfield, which will be decided earlier in the day. Sophomore BeccaBailey (15-4) will start on the mound. Freshman Missy Paulina isbehind the plate. Freshman Rebecca Rousseau is at first base,sophomore Kayla Crochet at second base, sophomore Ashley Sykes atshortstop and sophomore Meleah Brown at third base, In theoutfield, freshman Candace Avants starts in left field andsophomore Emily Langley is in center.

Powering the Lady Wolves at the plate with a .382 battingaverage is Sykes. Also batting above .300 are sophomore KaylaCrochet .361, Langley .361, freshman Rebecca Rousseau .355,freshman Chelsey Miller .348, freshman Devon Welch .329, Bailey.329 and Brown .324. Crochet leads with six home runs.

“It’s such a dog fight just to make the state tournament,” saidKent. “Just to get out of the South Division. A lot of good teamsare sitting at the house.”

Kent feels that being the No. 1 seed will help the LadyWolves.

“We like our seeding right now,” added Kent. “We are proud to bethere. We’ve got good offense and good defense.”