By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

HATTIESBURG — The next “Southern Six” Senior Spotlight sponsored by Reese’s of the school year is Breyona Tanner of East Central.

Each week throughout the school year, we here at SouthMiss6 Sports will highlight a senior student/athlete in the “Southern Six” to honor.

Tanner was a key in helping guide her Lady Hornets to the Class 5A state championship this week in a two game sweep of Lafayette here at The University of Southern Mississippi Softball Complex this week.

East Central captured the crown Wednesday afternoon with a 10-6 come-from-behind win over Lafayette in game two of the title tilt, using a big six run rally in the bottom of the fourth frame to turn the momentum and secure a spot in 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.

A pair of standouts who have come through in the clutch all season for East Central, the senior 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.

Tanner tallied two hits and two RBIs in the series finale, and she also started in the circle and worked the first four frames to get the win as well.

“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.”

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

In Tuesday’s 10-3 win to open the series, Tanner had an RBI-single.

She started the week off with a bang as well. In a 3-2 walk-off win over longtime arch-rival Vancleave in game three of their Class 5A South State championship series Monday, Tanner’s run-scoring sacrifice fly plated Hailey Gordon with the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Tanner also hurled a complete game in the circle to earn the win, striking out four and scattering five singles, and sending ECHS to the state championship round for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

East Central, which captured its first state championship in 16 years, finished the season at 30-7 overall.

For over a decade now, Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cups has been the title sponsor of The Senior Bowl played annually in Mobile, Ala.

In addition to its new partnership with the Senior Bowl, the Reese’s® brand is also the official candy partner of the NCAA® and the title sponsor of the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Reese’s® College All-Star Game, which features the top Division I senior basketball student-athletes from around the country and is played the weekend of the NCAA Men’s Final Four®.

“The Reese’s brand is excited to continue our partnership with the Senior Bowl,” said Drew Iddings, Director, Promotions and Planning, The Hershey Company.  “We are confident that this partnership will continue to solidify the Reese’s brand’s leadership in collegiate athletics as well as honor senior student-athletes who achieved success on and off the field during their athletic careers.”

The 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl will take place on Saturday, February 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM CT at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game and practices will be televised on the NFL Network. 

The Reese’s Senior Bowl is widely regarded as the preeminent college football all-star game and the first stage in the NFL Draft process. The longest continual-running all-star game has taken place in Mobile, Alabama the past 75 years.  More than 900 NFL personnel, including key decision-makers from all 32 teams, and over 1100 media members from around the country were credentialed this year. This past April, the game produced 110 total picks, representing 43 percent of the entire NFL draft.