FERRIDAY, La. – Trinity Episcopal High advanced to the finals of the MPSA South A State Softball Tournament Saturday, clinching a spot in the state tournament to be held at Huntington High next Saturday.

&uot;The girls turned it up a notch,&uot; said Trinity assistant coach Rick Kirby after the Lady Saints advanced to the finals. &uot;They’ve been hitting the ball and playing great defense.&uot;

Host Huntington also qualified.

Trinity went 3-0 during the day to advance to the finals unbeaten. The contest did not start until 11 p.m. and no details were available at press time.

If Trinity lost that game, another game would have followed.

Trinity defeated Tensas 9-0 in its opening game.

Haley Hinton had four singles in four at-bats, Shay Netterville added three singles.

Amber Huff picked up her first win of the day.

The Lady Saints defeated Central Academy 12-2 in their second contest.

Sarah Kirby had four hits in four at-bats, including a home run and triple.

Hinton singled, doubled and tripled in the game.

Greer added three singles.

Huntington blitzed University Christian 28-0 in its opening contest.

Collecting home runs for the Lady Hounds were Whitney Bradford, Lindsay Wagoner, Sylvia Moak and Megan King. Tiffany Ferguson had three singles.

Huntington fell behind Claiborne 7-1 in its second game before losing 12-9 to fall into the loser’s bracket.

The Lady Hounds pulled to within 9-8 in the fourth inning.

King had a home run over the fence for Huntington.

Tessa Taunton and Wagoner tripled, while pitcher Jo-Lee Hughes had two doubles.

Trinity advanced to the finals with a 25-2 win over Claiborne. The Lady Saints scored five runs in the fifth inning and 10 in the sixth.

Kirby had four home runs and a single in the contest.

Huff had four singles, while Krista Mophett, Jessica Tannehill and Dottie Smith had three hits each.

The Lady Saints had 27 total hits against Claiborne.

&uot;The girls feed off each other,&uot;&160;Kirby said. &uot;Once they get started, they just keep rolling. We didn’t have to say anything to them. They just went out and did what they had to do.&uot;