The Natchez Saints had just defeated the Natchez Green Wave 12-9 in a six inning game that lasted more than two and a half hours to advance to the title game.

Brookhaven Academy was just about out of pitching after having to play twice on Saturday, including a hard-fought 12-11 win over Silliman that night to get to this point. After an inning and a half, the Saints appeared to have a good chance of winning their own tournament after taking a 4-1 lead, but some timely base hits by the Cougars combined with untimely walks and errors by the Saints allowed the Cougars to escape with an 8-6 win. &8220;It was a lot of fun coming to Natchez and not having any pressure,&8221; Cougars head coach Stephen Cooksey said. &8220;Coach (Matt) Mason put on a great tournament. Great teams. They&8217;ll all be in Brookhaven next weekend. We&8217;re also adding Lawrence County, so that should make for some interesting baseball.&8221; Cooksey took ace pitcher Corey Dickerson out of the game after just an inning and two-thirds after he allowed four runs on three hits and three walks. Dickerson didn&8217;t get any help in the top of the second when the Cougars&8217; defense committed three errors. &8220;We came out flat the second game,&8221; Mason said. &8220;Brookhaven&8217;s got a good team. The first game took a lot out of us emotionally and physically. It was hot out there and it was a long game. We had a couple of young players who came through in the first game but didn&8217;t come through in the second game.&8221; Parker Brumfield hit a solid one-out double to right field in the top of the first inning and with two outs scored on a Stevan Ridley single for a 1-0 lead.