WESSON – The Co-Lin Lady Wolves will host the MACJC StateSoftball Tournament this weekend. Action begins at noon Friday andwraps up Saturday afternoon with the championship game at 4p.m.

Coach Allen Kent’s Lady Wolves finished 13-7 in the South andare 29-10 overall. They have already qualified for the Region 23tournament next week in Clinton. In his seventh year as head coach,Kent has compiled a 206-66 record.

The is the second time Co-Lin has hosted the state tournament.The first one was in 2006.

Co-Lin, the South No. 1 seed, is joined by division foes No. 2Gulf Coast, No. 3 Pearl River and No. 4 East Central. Coming infrom the North Division are No. 1 seed Northwest; No. 2 seedItawamba, No. 3 seed East Mississippi and No. 4 seed Northeast.

“We are very pleased,” said Kent about hosting the statetournament. “It’s just better to keep the girls in the sameenvironment. We were fortunate to win South.”

Co-Lin meets Northeast at noon Friday to begin thesingle-elimination tourney. This year, the Lady Wolves have lightson their field. That helped the lineup of games this year.

“We are fortunate to have lights now,” stated Kent. “I’d like tothank Co-Lin president Dr. Ronnie Netttles for doing his part. Hegot us lights. When he took over, he said our program deservedlights. I want to thank him for following through on that.”

Last year’s Co-Lin team finished the NJCAA Division II NationalTournament as runner-ups. The Lady Wolves were (35-12) after losingto the Phoenix College Lady Bears 9-1 in the championship game atNormal, Ill. Co-Lin was MACJC State and NJCAA Region 23 Champs in2008.

“There is no rest for the weary,” added Kent. “Anybody iscapable to beating anyone in this tournament.”

Pitcher Rebecca Rousseau leads the Lady Wolves on the mound witha 16-3 record and a 1.87 ERA. Rousseau, a 5-foot-5 native ofGreenwood, La., struck out 112 batters and walked 25 in 112.1innings pitched. She has allowed 80 hits, including 10 home runsand 7 doubles.

Rousseau is the top pitcher state based on her ERA.

“Rebecca has been a workhorse,” stated Kent.” It’s so impotentto win that first game in the doubleheader. She went 12-0 in thosegames. Win the first one, it seems to take the pressure off of thesecond one. It’s be huge the way she has pitched for us in divisiongames.”

Kent says pitcher Terri Hodges was a strong finisher for theLady Wolves.

“Terri has really come on strong. In the end, she finished 8-5but at one time she was 2-5. She won some games for us. She lostsome division games she shouldn’t have because of our defense. Shehit her spots well and gave us some solid innings. I’ve really beenpleased.”

Hodges, a 5-5 freshman, is a native of Brookhaven. She struckout 68 batters and walked 35. She pitched 92.2 innings and hasallowed 53 hits including 4 home runs and 16 doubles.

Other team pitchers include freshman Melissa McFarland (5-1) ofEddicton and sophomore Ashley Jones (0-1) of Monticello.

“Melissa give us good innings in relief,” added Kent. “She has agood change of pace. She relies on off speed pitching.”