Trinity’s Lady Saint softball team is the top seed from the South entering Saturday’s MPSA&160;State A Softball Tournament at Huntington High in Ferriday, La.

The Lady Saints cruised through the South A State Tournament last week at Huntington to win its first-ever South State title.

That’s even more special for five Lady Saints who went through tough times five years ago.

Sarah Kirby, Amber Huff, Haley Hinton , Lessley Petty and Shay Netterville were seventh-graders when Trinity revived its softball program.

&uot;To give you an idea of how it was, I was the MVP of that team,&uot;&160;said Huff, who has been the Lady Saint varsity pitcher since the seventh grade. We had a bad record. But we were mostly junior high girls playing against high school girls.&uot;

Left-centerfielder Haley Hinton played shortstop as a seventh-grader.

&uot;I remember playing ACCS&160;and how big their girls looked,&uot; Hinton said. &uot;We felt so little.&uot;

Kirby said it was a bit discouraging in the first year.

&uot;But now we’re the older ones and the other teams have young players,&uot; she said.

Petty said although young, the 1995 team did have some talent.

&uot;But we were so young and inexperienced,&uot; she said. &uot;We knew it was a matter of time before we started playing better.&uot;

Kirby said she knows winning state will be tougher than winning South State.

&uot;I think we can do it, but as long as we give it our best shot, I’ll be satisfied,&uot; she said. &uot;It would be a great way to end my senior year by winning a state championship.&uot;

Huff said while times were tough at first, she knew they would get better.

&uot;Haley, Sarah and I had played on the Baby Bomers, Bombers and tournament teams together, so I knew if we stayed together we would be much better by high school.&uot;

Trinity has qualified for the state tournament every year since 1996.

&uot;Last year I thought was the year we would win it,&uot; Kirby said. &uot;We lost two seniors, but we picked up Jessica Tannehill and Sara Greer and they were big assets.&uot;

Kirby said the addition of Ashley Kingsafer to the team this year after first baseman Ashley Middleton was injured has helped the Lady Saints.

Petty said this year’s team has the right chemistry.

&uot;We all play well together,&uot; she said. &uot;We hit the ball, play real good defense and everybody has the right attitude.&uot;

Kirby said pitching in slow pitch is more difficult than it looks. She struck out 10 batters last Saturday during the South State Tournament.

&uot;People don’t think you have a strategy in slow pitch,&uot; she said. &uot;Coach Rick (Kirby) watches the girls bat and sees what they do and then he’ll tell me how to pitch.&uot;

Hinton said the Lady Saints hope to carry the momentum from winning South State into the state tournament.

&uot;I knew we had it in us we could win,&uot; Hinton said. &uot;That gave us a lot of confidence. The softball team doesn’t get noticed much because we never won South State before.&160;Coming in first made people notice us and that we are a sport and a team and are really good.&uot;

Huff said the seniors are excited about being a top seed.

&uot;It’s going to be tough, especially since we graduate Friday night,&uot; she said. &uot;Macon and Huntington are always tough. We’ve played so long together and tried so hard to get this far. Last week we gave it all we had to win it. We have to do the same this week.&uot;