Kaysha Register got one at-bat on Tuesday night and it will be one she’ll never forget.

The Brookhaven High School junior stepped to the plate with her team tied with Wesson 5-5 in the top of the 11th inning. Register — who is playing her first season of softball at Brookhaven — hit a long fly ball that drifted just over the left center-field fence in Wesson, and her three-run homer ended up being the winner in an 8-5 victory that pushed the Lady Panthers’ record to 9-1 on the season.

“I was just thinking I didn’t want to let my teammates down,” said a beaming Register after the game. Batting as a pinch hitter, Register sprinted around the bases to meet her teammates at home plate after her game-winning dinger.

The heroic hit was preceded by a hot start that staked the Lady Cobras (3-1) to a 5-0 lead after one inning. Wesson got on the board with a three-run home run by Laynee Crapps that came after an Anna Claire Crow double. Brookhaven committed three errors in the first inning.

The Brookhaven bats would finally start to wake up when Meg Foster blasted a two-run home run. That would be followed by a Kat Wallace RBI triple that pulled Brookhaven within two runs, 5-3.

The Lady Panthers would tie it up in the top half of the fifth when Lindsey Nations and Foster hit back-to-back home runs.

The long-ball has been a weapon wielded by the Lady Panthers all week.

On Monday night Brookhaven swept Bogue Chitto 14-9 and 19-9 in a doubleheader. The Lady Panthers hit nine home runs in the sweep and seven in the game-two win. Nations, Foster, Wallace and Kyla Henderson hit two home runs apiece, and CeAria Henderson added a single homer.

In the seventh inning Wesson would load the bases with one out before the Brookhaven defense shut the door and sent the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th Wesson had runners at first and second with no outs, but would be unable to capitalize.

Brookhaven head coach Mandy Vinson was animated with her team after their rough start in the opening inning.

“I was telling them that we’d have to come out and take it if we were going to come back,” said Vinson. “It felt like we gave up so much in the first by not making routine plays, we needed to completely turn it around.”

The first home run by Foster was a spark that started building momentum for Brookhaven.

“Meg got us rolling tonight with her bat and she also played great defense at second base,” said Vinson. “She’s been on a hot streak lately for sure.”

“Defensively, we played a great game,” said Wesson head coach Michelle Nunnery. “We just have to be able to dig down deep and bring in our runs whenever we’ve got runners in scoring position. We had multiple occasions to get the job done and we didn’t.”

Brookhaven hosts Clinton for a varsity doubleheader beginning tonight at 5 p.m. Wesson next plays on Tuesday against Hazlehurst at home.

Story by Cliff Furr