The second round of the MHSAA softball playoffs will tee off on Friday and there are four area schools still alive and vying for a state title.

Loyd Star

As winners of Region 7-2A, Loyd Star and coach Scott Leggett had a first-round bye in the MHSAA 2A bracket and will now face Mize in the second round.

Mize (18-7) swept Philadelphia (18-1, 19-3) in the first-round last week.

Loyd Star (21-4) met another team with a first-round bye on Monday, 5A South Jones, in a sort of warm-up game that allowed both teams to get some live competition.

The Hornets led 4-0 through three complete before South Jones scored two in the fourth and four in the sixth to take a 6-4 victory on their home field.

The Mize series will begin on Friday at 5:30 p.m. on Jan Smith Delaughter Field. Game two will be played at Mize on Saturday at 1 p.m. If a third and deciding game is needed, it’ll be played at Loyd Star on Monday at 5:30 p.m.

The winner of the Loyd Star/Mize series will then play the winner of the Lake (14-9) and Stringer (14-11) series in the third round.

West Lincoln

West Lincoln wanted Pelahatchie to play two games at Flea Hop in the first-round playoff series between the schools, but the Chiefs wouldn’t agree to a double header and instead hosted a game at their place on Monday.

That’s about the most fight the Bears got from Pelahatchie though as West Lincoln (20-4) won 25-0 at home on Saturday and 13-4 on the road Monday to clinch the series.

Next up for coach Anita Thornton and her squad is a MHSAA 2A second-round series with Puckett High.

Puckett (24-4) had a first-round bye after winning Region 8-2A.

The 44 combined wins between the two teams is the most of any second-round matchup in the state. The winner will move on to face the winner of the Choctaw County (17-8) and Pisgah (22-5) series.

Puckett will host game one on Friday at 6:30 p.m. West Lincoln will host game two on Saturday at 1 p.m. If a third and deciding game is needed, it’ll be played at Puckett on Monday.

Enterprise

Enterprise won its opening round series over West Bolivar in two games by a combined total of 37-1.

Next up for the Yellow Jackets (19-8) and coach Alicia Smith is a second-round paring with Richton High (7-10) in the MHSAA 1A playoffs.

The series will start at Richton on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. and will return to Enterprise on Saturday at 2 p.m. for game two. If a third game is necessary, it’ll be played at Richton on Monday.

The winner of the series has a date in the third round between the winner of the Salem (14-12) and Ethel (17-9) series.

Salem is a region-mate of EAC and a team the Yellow Jackets swept (6-5, 9-1) during the regular season.

Wesson

After outscoring their four Region 7-3A competitors by a combined total of 141-3 this season, the Wesson Cobras are ready for a step up in competition now that the MHSAA 3A state playoffs have arrived.

Following their opening round bye, the Cobras (14-8) are matched up with West Marion (22-4) in a second-round series.

West Marion is better than your average no. 2 seed after they lost Region 8 by splitting two close games with St. Patrick (an 8-4 loss and a 7-4 win).

The Trojans beat Southeast Lauderdale 9-3 and 15-7 in the first round to set up the matchup with Wesson.

Wesson coach Michelle Nunnery had her team play on Monday against another region winner, 6A Vicks09burg. The Cobras went to Vicksburg and came back with a 5-2 victory.

The winner of the Wesson and West Marion series will play either Union (14-9) or Raleigh (20-7) in the third round.