NATCHEZ — The Cathedral Lady Green Wave knew what was at stake in their first season of fast-pitch softball in MAIS District 4-AAA when they hosted the Columbia Academy Lady Cougars for a varsity doubleheader Monday afternoon.

One win would give Cathedral third place. A sweep meant second place behind district champion Simpson Academy. But being swept by Columbia Academy would have put Cathedral in fourth place.

After a dominating performance by Elizabeth Smith on the mound and she and her teammates at the plate in a 13-3 win in Game 1, the Lady Green Wave held on for a 7-6 win to take both games and second place.

“Our backs were against the wall. They knew that coming out,” Cathedral head coach Gary Blackwell said. “The first game was just a great effort. They came out focused and ready to play.”

Cathedral, the home team in Game 1, scored one run in the bottom of the first inning before exploding for eight runs in the bottom of the third for a commanding 9-0 lead.

Both Smith and Emily Rasco had a double for the Lady Green Wave in that big third inning.

“Everybody was on top of the ball. We were getting people on base on the small ball. We had six hits that inning,” Blackwell said.

Smith gave up three runs (one earned) on just one hit and three walks while striking out five batters. She helped her cause by going 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.

“She was on. She did a great job. She knew what she had to do, too,” Blackwell said.

The Lady Cougars managed to score two runs in the top of the fourth inning and one in the top of the fifth, but Cathedral matched that run total in the bottom of each inning to go up 12-3 and added its final run in the bottom of the sixth.

Caroline Kaiser went 4-for-4 while Rasco was 3-for-4 with her double. In addition to Smith, Abby Brown, Haley Ellis and Anne Elise Riley each went 2-for-4. As a team, the Lady Green Wave had 16 hits in the opener.

The second game turned out to be a lot closer than Blackwell hoped. The Lady Cougars jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before Cathedral, the visiting team in the nightcap, responded with two runs in the top of the third inning and four runs in the top of the fifth.

“The second game after a big win is always hard to get up for,” Blackwell said. “They got us for two runs in the first inning. But our girls fought hard and came back.”

But Columbia Academy would not go away quietly. After the Lady Cougars scored one run in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Lady Green Wave scored what turned out to be a big insurance run in the top of the seventh. That’s because the Lady Cougars scored three runs of Smith in the bottom of the seventh to make it a one-run game with two outs.

However, Smith forced a ground ball, which turned out to be the final out of the game.

Bailee Graning went 3-for-5 with a double and Fisher Iseminger led Cathedral’s 10-hit attack by going 3-for-4.

Cathedral (8-9, 5-3) next plays at Trinity Episcopal at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Concordia Recreation District 3 Complex at Vidalia.

Parklane Academy 11, ACCS 0

NATCHEZ — Adams County Christian School pitcher Brianna Henson got off to a good start on the mound against MAIS Class AAAA Parklane Academy, keeping the Lady Pioneers off the scoreboard through the first three innings.

But in the top of the fourth inning, Parklane got some big base hits that led to five runs and the Lady Pioneers never looked back in an 11-0 victory over the Class AAA Lady Rebels Monday afternoon.

It took all seven innings, however, for the Lady Pioneers to reach that run total. They finished with 11 hits and could have had more of each had it not been for some outstanding defense by ACCS’s outfield. The Lady Rebels committed just one error.

“I thought as far as defensively goes, we did good. They hit the ball and they hit the ball hard,” Lady Rebels head coach Rick Fife said. “I felt like our outfield had four good plays that kept us in the game early. Two of them were home runs that were taken away.”

While Parklane cruised to a double-digit win, ACCS managed just three hits. One was a double by Henson.

As for Henson’s performance on the mound, Fife said, “Early, Brianna was on the edge of the plate. Then she got in the middle of the plate and that’s how they made us pay. But she was on in the first three innings.”

Parklane added one run in the top of the fifth inning to increase its lead to 6-0 before piling on five more runs in the top of the seventh.

ACCS (11-14) plays host to Tensas Academy today at 6 p.m. in its regular-season finale.

Glenbrook at Trinity Episcopal canceled

VIDALIA — Trinity Episcopal’s non-district home game against Glenbrook School at the Concordia Recreation District 3 Complex that was scheduled for Monday night has been canceled and will not be rescheduled.

The Lady Saints will have two games left to close out the regular season. First, they will travel to Winnsboro, La. to take on MAIS District 5-AA rival Franklin Academy for a varsity-only game at 5 p.m.

Then at 4 p.m. Wednesday, they will have a varsity-only home game against the Cathedral Lady Green Wave. It will also be Senior Night for the Lady Saints.