By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

HATTIESBURG — East Central captured its first state softball title in 16 years here Wednesday afternoon with a 10-6 come-from-behind win over Lafayette..

And a big six run rally in the bottom of the fourth frame turned the momentum for the Lady Hornets and propelled them into the history books of the ECHS athletic department.

Trailing 5-3 entering their half of the inning, East Central cobbled together four hits, four walks and two Lafayette errors in the decisive stanza to plate the half-dozen runs.

“They just don’t stop., they answer the bell every time.” ECHS head coach Gerald Edmondson said after an on-field celebration. “They went up 1-0, we come back and tie it up, then they go up 3-1, and they get a shutout the next inning My girls are kind of dragging, and told them to keep their heads up. It’s a long game, and you can hit this girl.”

A pair of standouts who have come through in the clutch all season for East Central, senior Breyona Tanner and junior Abby Danis, again played key roles in the game-winning rally as Tanner’s RBI-double returned the lead to the Lady Hornets at 6-5 and Danis finished off the two game sweep of Lafayette with a towering three-run home run to left field to put ECHS in complete command at 9-6.

“I was very confident at the plate in that at-bat,” Danis said. “I knew I’d hit both of their pitchers well yesterday, so I was very confident going up there.”

Her partner in crime that helped heist the title game from the Lady Rockets agreed.

“I just locked in at the box,” Tanner said. “I knew I had to do a job. I tried to hit it in the hole and score a run there. It was important.”

“”We started getting more patient at the plate,” Edmondson added. “We got some big hits, then Danis came up and sent one … oh, my gosh, I don’t know how far it went, but it was the furthest I’ve seen a ball hit out of here, and I’ve seen a lot. It was way out there.”

That dynamic duo spend time in the infield and also threw every pitch in the circle in both the Class 5A South State finals as well as the two games in the state title tilt. In the finale, Tanner started and worked the first four frames while Danis relieved her in the fifth and finished up and was also the beneficiary of the big rally to earn the pitching win.

In addition, the championship-winning combo keyed the Lady Hornets’ offense attack accounting for the only two extra base hits on the day as Danis finished with two hits and four RBIs and Tanner chipped in two hits and two RBIs.

Tanner tallied the final run of the game with an RBI-single in the fifth.

Danis was named the Most Outstanding Player of the championship series.

In Tuesday’s 10-3 win to open the series, Danis had two hits and picked up the pitching win while Tanner had an RBI-single.