NATCHEZ &045; Truman Moore may have wanted to go out with little fanfare, but his Sebastopol club may have other ideas.

The Lady Bobcats may have made it tougher to walk away after Thursday night. They rallied to take games 2 and 3 over the best-of-three series over Cathedral to advance to the third round of the Class 1A softball playoffs, taking Game 3 7-4 and Game 2 4-3.

The veteran coach said this will be his last year, but the team wants to go as far as it can this fall. It held off a pesky Cathedral club to face Union on Thursday in a South State semifinal.

Cathedral won Game 1, 4-3.

&uot;It’s Coach Moore’s last year, and we’ve got to do it for him,&uot; said junior outfielder Andie Easom, who sparked the rally in Game 3 with a two-run homer. &uot;We wanted his last one to be his best one. Once somebody starts hitting, everybody catches on. I got mad because they scored some runs, and I just wanted to hit it.&uot;

The Lady Bobcats had to fight to take the last two games of the series in a well-played series that featured enough defense to fill a highlight reel. The Lady Wave’s defense kept it in the game with Sebastopol’s solid defense in the infield keeping the bats from putting together a rally.

The Lady Bobcats trailed 2-0 heading into the sixth before tacking on four runs to break the game open and end one of the better Cathedral softball seasons since the 1997 team’s playoff run.

&uot;I don’t think we could have played that team any better,&uot; Cathedral head coach Erin Binns said. &uot;That team was supposed to come down here and spank us. The girls didn’t lie down. When they got behind, they didn’t lie down. I know they were tired, but they didn’t give up. I couldn’t have asked for any better defense all three games.&uot;

Cathedral had that 2-0 lead and was playing solid defensively all over the field before things got derailed in the sixth. The first two batters were retired before leadoff hitter Leslie Sistrunk singled.

Brooke Dove followed with a single, but Sistrunk scored on an error. Emily Thrash then doubled in Sistrunk, and Easom followed with a shot to right center that was deep enough for a home run.

&uot;We didn’t hit much,&uot; Moore said. &uot;We played the other day in the first round, and won 2-1 and beat them the second game 25-9. We don’t have a lot of athletes, but we have a lot of heart. But you can’t count Natchez Cathedral out.&uot;

The Lady Wave answered with a run in the sixth when an Emily Stevens groundout scored pinch-runner Betsy Daggett, but the rally couldn’t keep going. In the seventh Caitlin Huffines reached on an error to lead off but was puched out when shortstop Emily Thrash turned a double play.

Sebastopol added three more in the seventh with two coming on a single from Thrash.

&uot;We just couldn’t put up more than two or three runs,&uot; Binns said. &uot;That’s what messed us up. If we could have put some more runs on the board, we would have had that third game. Then we got down, and it was over with.&uot;

The Lady Bobcats struggled putting runners on base up until then, and the Lady Wave built up a 2-0 lead. Megan Whittington put one in left center that rolled to the fence after two outfielders collided and came around for a home run in the third.

Jordan Chandler’s triple in the fourth scored Emily Stevens.

Chandler and Alex Roberts, meanwhile, helped kept Sebastopol off the board with their defense.

&uot;We must have hit 25 to the shortstop (Chandler) and hit the same amount to the left-center fielder (Roberts),&uot; Moore said. &uot; We finally got some hits when we had them. We lucked out. The first game we didn’t hit, but the second game we got the hits.

&uot;I know one thing &045; it’s a long way from here to the house.&uot;

Said Binns: &uot;I told Jordan that’s the kind of shortstop I’ve been waiting to see her play. And I turned around in the dugout and asked, ‘Please hit the all to Alex.’ We came out ready to play. We had a good team this year. What we’ve gotten this year we’ve worked for. We’ve worked for the wins we’ve gotten, and I’m proud of that.&uot;

The Lady Cats forced a third game in their final at-bat in Game 2. With the Lady Wave holding a 3-1 lead, Thrash singled to load the bases before Easom worked the count full and later walked to force in Sistrunk.

Dana Boykin then lined one through the left side to score Brooke Dove and Thrash to end the game.

In the first game, the Lady Wave rallied for two runs in bottom of the sixth to take the 4-3 win. Stevens doubled in Daggett and Roberts with a shot to right to take the lead.