NATCHEZ &045; Regardless of the result of next week’s playoff series, Natchez High’s Lady Bulldogs have one assignment after the season ends.

Get in a softball league next summer.

With the team’s youthful makeup, lack of experience in the game and overall inconsistency, a productive summer could do them well. When they put the wraps on a regular season Monday with a 14-9 loss to Cathedral, it was enough to point out what needs to be corrected before a team that stands to lose only three seniors returns next fall.

The Lady Bulldogs (4-14) will face likely Moss Point Oct. 11 in the playoffs.

&uot;I’m glad this season is coming to an end,&uot; NHS head coach Charlie Williams said. &uot;Maybe we can focus on the playoffs and focus on next season. It’s my main goal this year to keep them together and make sure they get some softball in this summer instead of laying around the house listening to music. They really don’t understand the game.&uot;

That assignment could be said for just about anyone else in the Miss-Lou this fall &045; a fall that’s been a down season for teams both in fast-pitch and slow-pitch. The Lady Wave (10-10) will put the wraps on its season today with a home contest against Enterprise and will face a similar situation once the final out is recorded.

Keep the team together and keep playing softball.

&uot;Enterprise probably has a chance (at the the playoffs),&uot; Cathedral head coach Gary Blackwell said. &uot;I really don’t know, but I heard it’s a toss-up between them, Salem and West Lincoln. If we could have been playing all season like the last three or four games, we’d probably be going to the playoffs. Now we’re playing good ball.&uot;

The Lady Wave had the upper hand in this crosstown matchup, but like Natchez, the Wave was plagued by the one-bad-inning problems it’s had at points throughout the season. Cathedral held a 12-0 lead and were on the verge of putting the game away in five innings before Natchez rallied with two in the fourth and sixth in the fifth.

But Cathedral came with two in the sixth when Anna Huffines doubled in Megan Whittington and Caitlin Huffines for a 14-8 lead to put the game away.

&uot;I liked their effort from the fourth on,&uot; Williams said. &uot;That’s the way they do it &045; they get down by a few runs (early). Softball is a funny game. Those hits are going to fall sooner or later. They’re going to make errors just like you did. That’s just softball.&uot;

That was the case with Cathedral, who went nuts in the first two innings with six in the first and four in the second to take a 10-0 lead. The Lady Wave suffered its one bad inning in the fifth when the Lady Bulldogs scored six runs and trimmed the lead to 12-8.

The Lady Wave committed three errors in the inning, including a misplayed fly ball that went to the fence and allowed speedster Ke’Airra Jones to come all the way around with ease for a two-run inside-the-park homer.

Bianca Robinson later singled in Rocklyn Champlin and Christy Franklin for the final two runs of the inning.

&uot;We’ll get a lead, and we’ll get lazy,&uot; Blackwell said. &uot;We should have gone home after the fifth inning. We let them get back in the game again. But they kept their composure, and we did what we needed to do. We’ll be doing well, and one inning kills us. It seems like it’s contagious.&uot;