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BROOKHAVEN — The Cathedral High School Lady Green Wave were playing for seeding Monday afternoon at the 2021 MAIS Class 5A South State Tournament as they had already clinched a berth in the upcoming state tournament.

Unfortunately, they ran into a buzz saw in host school Brookhaven Academy in a losers’ bracket game at the Hansel King Sports Complex. In a battle of district champions, the District 4 No. 1 seed Lady Cougars belted 14 hits as they cruised to a 12-1 win over the District 3 No. 1 seed Lady Green Wave in five innings.

“We played well at times on Monday. Sometimes we gave them too many opportunities,” Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. “Hopefully we can rebound and play better this weekend.”

The Lady Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and then got a home run from Bailee Goodson as part of a two-run second inning to go ahead 5-0.

The Lady Green Wave scores their only run of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Kinslee Young reached on an error and later scored. Young and Lauren Dunbar each went 1-for-2. Those were the only base hits Lady Cougars senior and winning pitcher Emily Claire Felder gave up.

Felder allowed one unearned run, struck out seven and walked none in her five innings in the circle. Lily Crum took the loss for Cathedral as she allowed 12 runs, nine of them earned, on 14 hits with five strikeouts and six walks over four and two-thirds innings.

Brookhaven Academy scored one run in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-1 lead and then run-ruled Cathedral thanks to a six-run barrage in the bottom of the sixth, which was highlighted by a home run by Abby Grace Richardson. K. Covington and M. Wallace also had RBI base hits for the Lady Cougars in that frame.

Covington went 4-for-4 with a double, one RBI and one run scored, Goodson was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, one RBI and four runs scored, and Bailey Parks was 2-for-3 with a double, one RBI and one run scored. A. Daigle scored two runs while Richardson had four RBIs and one run scored.

“We knew they had a good team. We knew we were going to have to play our best,” Beesley said. “They made the plays they had to make. Hopefully we can regroup and have a better tournament this weekend.”

Cathedral (20-6) will be the South No. 4 seed and take on North No. 1 seed Leake Academy at 12 p.m. Saturday in the first round of the 2021 MAIS Class 5A State Tournament, which will take place at the Magee Sportsplex in Magee.

“We know they’re a very talented team and we know we’re going to have to play our best to beat them. But we’re excited to be playing in the state tournament,” Beesley said. “We’re going to have to play great defense and timely hitting and another good performance from Lily Crum (in the circle).”