By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

There will be no beach battles for the trio of “Catholic League” squads in the “Southern Six” this season.
That’s because St. Stanislaus, St. Patrick and Resurrection all have bigger sand castles to tend to this week.
All three teams open their respective region action Tuesday night on the road, as Resurrection travels to Lumberton while St. Stanislaus heads to West Marion and St. Patrick travels to Perry Central.
In Region 8-3A action, the Rock-A-Chaws are aiming for their second consecutive league title after SSC not only took the title last year but also captured the Class 3A South State title and played in the overall Class 3A state championship series as well. Head coach Brad Corley’s crew stands a solid 6-2 overall as they open region play in Foxworth Tuesday night.

The Fighting Irish stand 6-4 overall under first-year head coach Kevin Burdine as they head to New Augusta to face the Bulldogs. St. Patrick finished fourth in the league standings last year and qualified for the Class 3A South State playoffs in the process.
In Region 8-1A, the Eagles of RCS have ruled the roost for the past five seasons and captured five straight league titles as they begin their quest for number seven Tuesday night.
Resurrection is also the two-time back-to-back Class 1A state champion as has captured three consecutive Class 1A South State championship.

The Eagles are going into region action on a good note, coming off of a 10-2 win Monday night over Tupelo Christian in a rematch of the 2021 Class 1A state title series.
“We’ve had a good start to the season,” Frederic said. “We had some momentum going until the weather got us last week. Pitching will be the key for us again this year. We’ve had several guys step in nicely to fill positions left from last year’s senior group. We tried to put together a good, competitive non-district schedule to help prepare and have our guys ready for the second half of the season.”
Bryce Brown had a game-high three hits to pace RCS at the plate, while Harris Hinkle chipped in a pair of hits and collected a game-high three RBIs and Carter McCammon added two hits and drove in a pair of runs in the winning effort also.
McCammon earned the win in relief, while Thomas Goralczyk took the loss.
Resurrection returns home on Thursday to face Lumberton in the return match of Tuesday night’s region opener.