By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

A state championship is on the minds of prep baseball and softball players and coaches this week in the “Southern Six” as the regular season winds down.

Getting to Trustmark Park in Pearl is the ultimate goal for every prep baseball player on every team in the state of Mississippi when the season tips off. And playing well in region action and earning a top four seed is the first step.

Getting to Hattiesburg at The University of Southern Mississippi is the ultimate goal for every prep softball player on every team in the state of Mississippi when the season tips off. And playing well in region action and earning a top four seed is the first step.

Each week until the overall state tournaments starts in mid-May, SouthMiss6 Sports will be the place to be to keep up with the most complete and comprehensive info about all things prep baseball and prep softball featuring stories and photos in the “Southern Six” counties of the state of Mississippi.

Each week, on Tuesday, we will take a look at at least five players and five games to keep an eye on as well as release our weekly “Super 7 in the Southern 6” polls.

Around the Diamond in the “Southern 6”

This week’s “Around the Diamond in the Southern 6” players list is comprised of some of the area standouts in prep baseball that came up big for their respective teams in their respective region action and one prep softball standout as well.

1. Easton Fox, Ocean Springs — Ocean Springs registered its second walk-off win over D’Iberville in five days Saturday afternoon, and that resulted in the third straight Region 4-7A title for the Greyhounds, and Fox played a key role as he finished with two hits producing the final two runs of the game for the Greyhounds with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth and then the game-winning RBI-single in the final stanza.
2. Blake Gill, Pearl River Central — In a three game sweep of Pascagoula in Region 4-6A play, Gill went 6-for-9 at the plate with a double, three stolen bases, three runs scored, and two RBI’s as the Blue Devils stayed perfect at 12-0 in league play.
3. Brody Long, East Central — East Central came up with one of its biggest regular season series sweeps in almost two decades with three straight wins over arch-rival Vancleave in Region 4-5A play last week, and Long was a major reason why as he went 4-for-9 at the plate with five RBI’s as the Hornets clinched a state playoff berth for the 16th straight season.
4. Carson Pierce, George County — The Rebels clinched their third straight region title with a two game sweep of Terry last week and Pierce was at the forefront as in game one he hurled a six inning, no-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts and went 3-for-3 at the plate in the Rebels 10-0 win over Terry.
5. (Softball) Addison Davis, George County — In a two game sweep of West Jones to capture the Region 3-6A crown and lead her team to its fourth straight league title overall, the senior standout Davis went 5-for-6 at the plate with a triple and three RBI’s and she also pitched five innings allowing two hits and had nine strikeouts in an 11-0 win in the second game. Then on Monday, she smacked a grand slam and also earned the win with a one-hit shutout in an 11-0 win over St. Martin.

This Week’s Games:

1. St. Martin at Ocean Springs — Tuesday night in a key Region 4-7A game.
2. Hancock at PRC— Tuesday night in big Region 4-6A contest.
3. Gulfport at D’Iberville — Friday in a big in Region 4-7A match-up.
4. (Softball) South Jones at George County — Thursday night as the defending Class 6A state champions celebrate Senior Night.
5. East Central at Purvis — Saturday afternoon in a major Region 4-5A game.

South Miss 6 Sports Super 7 Polls

Super 7 in the Southern 6 Prep baseball and softball Polls!!!!

(April 14th edition)

(Our weekly polls are the ONLY ones in the state of Mississippi that’s voted solely on by a panel of head baseball and softball coaches)

Baseball:

1. Ocean Springs (23-2)
2. Pearl River Central (20-5)
3. Hancock (21-3)
4. George County (18-7)
5. St. Martin (16-9)
6. Poplarville (20-8)
7. (Tie) D’Iberville (16-5) & East Central (14-11)

Softball:

1. Ocean Springs (22-7)
2. George County (20-6)
3. East Central (23-4)
4. Pass Christian (21-5-1)
5. D’Iberville (14-7-1)
6. Harrison Central (17-10)
7. Gulfport (14-8)