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Cathedral's Douglas Smith slides safely into home plate before the Parklane Academy catcher can make the tag. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Cathedral shortstop Tristan Fondren scoops up the ball before making the throw to first base for the out. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Cathedral's Landon French throws a pitch during the Green Wave's 9-6 win over Parklane Academy, forcing a third game in the best-of-three playoff series. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Cathedral's Douglas Smith slides safely into home plate before the Parklane Academy catcher can make the tag. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Cathedral's Tripp Wimberly celebrates during the Green Wave's 9-6 come-from-behind win over Parklane Academy, forcing a third game in the best-of-three playoff series. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Cathedral's Tristan Fondren celebrates at home plate after scoring during the Green Wave's 9-6 win over Parklane Academy, forcing a third game in the best-of-three playoff series. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

Cathedral shortstop Tristan Fondren turns to make the throw to first base for an out during the Green Wave's 9-6 win over Parklane Academy, forcing a third game in the best-of-three playoff series. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)

NATCHEZ — With the season on the line and Parklane Academy starting pitcher Aiden Nickels struggling on the mound, head coach Robert Young went to his bullpen in an effort to keep Cathedral High School from adding to its early lead.

The decision eventually paid off. After Braxton Hughes walked two batters and was only to get one batter out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Young called for George Glass to come in for Hughes and Glass did the rest over his two and two-thirds innings.

And that allowed the Pioneers to rally behind Collin Smith’s game-tying RBI single in the top of the fifth inning and Glass’s go-ahead walk that brought in what ended up being the game-winning run in the top of the seventh as they defeated the Green Wave 5-4 last Friday night at Chester Willis Field to win this 2025 MAIS Class 5A South State Playoffs first-round series two games to one.

District 3-5A No. 3 seed Parklane Academy did not get off to a good start as District 4-5A No. 2 seed Cathedral jumped on Nickels for two runs in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Tripp Wimberly and an RBI single down the right field line by Ethan Keith.

The Pioneers did manage to score one run against Cathedral starting pitcher Doug Smith in the top of the second inning, but the home team responded with two runs in the bottom of the third as Tristan Fondren doubled in a run and Wimberly grounded into a fielder’s choice, which plated another run for a 4-1 Green Wave lead.

Nickels went four innings and allowed four runs, all of them earned, on two hits with three strikeouts, two walks, and one hit batter. Hughes almost got Parklane in trouble to start the bottom of the fifth, but Glass pitched Parklane out of that potential jam.

The Pioneers began their rally by plating two runs in the top of the fourth inning to make it a 4-3 game. Then Smith singled to left field in the top of fifth to tie the game at 4-4. And with the Green Wave having trouble at the plate against Glass, that gave the visiting team from McComb a golden opportunity to take the lead.

And that’s just what happened in the top of the seventh. Smith was pulled after throwing 102 pitches over six-plus innings, 68 of them for strikes. But he also left with a runner on base when Eli Wilson came on the mound in relief. Wilson gave up a base hit and two walks, the second of which with Glass at the plate. That run was charged to Smith and Glass to take first base. Wilson struck out one batter and finally pitched himself out of that jam without any further damage.

But with Parklane now in the lead at 5-4, it was up to Glass to close out the game and he did just that. In his time on the mound, winning pitcher Glass gave up no hits struck out two batters, and walked three batters.

Collin Smith led Parklane at the plate by going 3-for-4 with a double and one run scored. Jay Allredge was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Hitting-wise for Cathedral, Fondren went 1-for-1 with his RBI double, two runs scored, was walked twice, and was hit by a pitch once. Keith was 1-for-2 with one RBI and was walked twice. Landon French was 0-for-1 but was also walked three times and scored two runs. Despite going 0-for-2 at the plate, Wimberly drove in two runs.

With the loss, Cathedral finished its 2025 season with an overall record of 15-14. Parklane advanced to the Class 5A South State semifinals against a very familiar opponent in District 3-5A champion and No. 1 seed Oak Forest Academy.

Cathedral 9, Parklane Academy 6 (Game 2 – Friday afternoon)

NATCHEZ — Despite the presence of strong thunderstorms and very heavy rain earlier in the day last Friday, Game 2 between Parklane Academy and Cathedral High School still took place later on in the afternoon.

The only thing that changed was the starting time – from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. And for four and a half innings, it looked like the visiting team was more prepared from having to deal with a wet and muddy Chester Willis Field than the team that actually plays its home games there.

That was until Cathedral finally struck for seven runs against starting pitcher Slade Steele and then relief pitchers Nick Young and CJ Wall on just base hit thanks to three walks, a hit by a pitch, and a costly error as the Green Wave defeated the Pioneers 9-6 in Game 2 to, at the time, keep its season alive.

After a scoreless first inning, Parklane struck for three runs in the top of the second inning thanks to a bases-clearing double by Kaydon Jackson. Then in the top of the third inning, Collin Smith hit a solo home run for a 4-0 Pioneers lead.

Cathedral starting pitcher Ethan Keith was then pulled with one out in the top of the fourth with the Green Wave needing some kind of spark. In his three and one-thirds inning on the mound, Keith gave up four runs, only one of them earned, on three hits with one strikeout, one walk, and three hit batters.

Eli Wilson came on in relief of Keith, but he only lasted two thirds of an inning. He struck out one batter, but he also hit two batters. Then Landon French pitched the final three innings and, for the most part, he was solid.

Cathedral struck for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Keith doubled down the right field line to score a run. Parklane committed an error to bring in another run. Then walks issued to Walker Probst and Houston Edwards each allowed a run to come across home plate. And if that wasn’t bad enough for the Pioneers to deal with, French was hit by a pitch and that brought in yet another run. Tristan Fondren grounded into a fielder’s choice to score another run and Wimberly walked to score a run.

Steele got the start for the Pioneers and he kept Cathedral off balance throughout the first four innings. Then he got into trouble in the bottom of the fifth. He lasted four-plus innings and gave up two runs, both of them earned, on two hits with two strikeouts, six walks, and two hit batters.

Young ended up being charged with the loss after he gave up four runs, three of them earned, on one hit with one strikeout and two walks in just one-third of an inning. Wall lasted the final two-thirds of the bottom of the fifth and gave up one earned run on no hits, but also two walks and one hit by a pitch. He also struck out one batter.

Then the Green Wave struck for two runs off Aaron Holmes in the bottom of the sixth inning to go ahead 9-4. The Pioneers tried to mount one last comeback in the top of the seventh inning against French, but he allowed just two runs before getting the final out to end the game.

French ended up being the winning pitcher as he gave up two runs, only one of them earned, on four hits with no strikeouts but only one walk in three innings.

Young led Parklane at the plate by going 2-for-3 with two runs scored, was hit by a pitch once, and had three stolen bases. Jackson was 1-for-2 with three RBIs, was walked once, was hit by a pitch once, and had two stolen baes. Smith ended up going 1-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored.

Keith led the Green Wave at the plate by going 1-for-3 with one RBI, one run scored, and was walked once. Dough Smith was 1-for-3 with one run scored while Drake Cox was 1-for-1 and was walked twice. French finished 1-for-4 with one RBI and was hit by a pitch once. Wimberly was walked three times, was hit by a pitch once, had two stolen bases, and scored one run.

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