BROOKHAVEN &045; There are just times like these when players just suck it up and do the job.

Needless to say the fall season wasn’t one that didn’t require some re-tooling and adjustments for the Centreville Lady Tigers. There were holes to fill from last year’s state championship squad, and those holes were question marks.

On Saturday those question marks turned into exclamation points as the Lady Tigers claimed all three games and won the MPSA Class AA South State title. They advance to the state tournament starting Wednesday in Brookhaven and will face the No. 4 seed from the North.

&uot;We had to make a few adjustments and adapt on defense,&uot; Centreville head coach Kenny Jackson said. &uot;They sort of jelled this weekend and came along as a team. We had good steady pitching. They were hitting the ball well, and our defense played really well behind our pitchers.&uot;

The Lady Tigers opened with day with a 10-0 win over Riverfield before knocking off Columbia twice &045; 3-1 in the winners’ bracket final and 6-2 in the championship game. Junior hurler Kendall Madsen went the distance in the first two games and came in relief in the final game after Jenae Jackson started and went 5 2/3 innings.

The Lady Tigers chipped away in that last game with a 1-0 lead, then 2-0 and later 4-0 before Columbia answered with two runs. Madsen entered the game with a one out left in the sixth and closed the door while her team tacked on two runs for insurance.

&uot;They were hitting the ball pretty well,&uot; Kenny Jackson said. &uot;So I brought Kendall in to close it down. They had a couple base hits, and I brought in Kendall.&uot;

The Lady Tigers jumped all over Riverfield in the opener in a continuation from Wednesday’s 12-0 win over Simpson when Madsen threw a perfect game. Then they got the key hits in the second game to knock off Columbia and send the Lady Cougars into the losers’ bracket.

Huntington at South State

LIBERTY &045; After turning a corner of sorts with their opening-round win over Porter’s Chapel, the Huntington Lady Hounds had plans of making a surprise run at the Class A South State tournament Saturday.

Until a couple of errors and good opposing pitchers had other ideas.

The Lady Hounds dropped their first game to Franklin Academy, 4-1, before falling to River Oaks, 2-0, to get eliminated from the tournament and end their season for a squad that loses just two seniors.

&uot;It was shorter than what me or anybody else thought,&uot; Huntington head coach Brandon Gousset said. &uot;We beat (River Oaks) 4-0 the first time we played them, and we knew they didn’t hit very well. Franklin beat us for the seventh straight time this year. But I don’t think that’s any excuse. The only position we need to fill (for next year) is the catching position.&uot;

Erin Hedrick went the distance in both games and tossed a three-hitter in the second game but had errors behind her while the bats couldn’t get a rally going. River Oaks got one run when a baserunner was caught in between third and home and the throw to third went wild to score the run.

In the first game the Lady Hounds had three errors and had the runners in scoring position in both the fourth and fifth innings.

In the first game the Lady Hounds got a run in the fourth to cut the lead to 3-1. Singles from Bradford and Hedrick along with an Amber Smith walk put the bases loaded, and a fielder’s choice by Sarah Loomis scored Bradford. Katie Moak got on by a fielder’s choice to load them up again, but Jessie Moak hit into a forceout to end the inning.