OCEAN SPRINGS – The Brookhaven Lady Panthers roared to an 18-0victory in the opener and beat St. Martin 11-3 in the finaleSaturday in the second round of the Class 5A state slowpitchsoftball playoffs.

The Lady Panthers (20-8) travel to Picayune Tuesday for abest-of-three series and the South State Championship. Picayuneeliminated McComb two straight games Saturday.

“We hit the ball well today and I was proud of our overalleffort,” said BHS head coach Lisa Covington. “We played gooddefense in the first game but we made four errors in the secondgame.”

Brook 18, St. Martin 0

In five innings, Brooke Hosick (0 K, 2 BB) pitched the win. ThePanthers accounted for 16 hits in the victory over Yellow Jacketpitcher Ashley Warrick.

At the plate, leftfielder Christen Benson singled twice andtripled for BHS. Shortstop Erica Bridwell had 3 singles.Rightfielder Erica Lenoir tripled and singled. Catcher TaylorMurray singled and doubled. Third baseman Emily Freeman andright-centerfielder Shelby Case singled twice. Hosick and RashanaStewart singled.

St. Martin only had two hits in the opener.

Brook 11, St. Martin 3

Hosick (0 K, 3 BB) pitched the win as BHS finished with 17hits.

At the plate Freeman collected three singles. Bridwell singledand doubled. Benson and Murray both singled and tripled. Hosicksingled twice. Madeline DeLaughter singled and doubled. Lenoirdoubled. Sarah Ayers, Stewart and Case singled.

St. Martin had 7 hits in the nightcap and the Jackets forged a3-2 lead. The Panthers plated 4 runs in the fourth and 3 in thesixth to claim the victory.