The MPSA Class A state softball tournament takes place today at the Huntington High softball field in Ferriday beginning at 9 a.m. Trinity is the South No. 1 seed and Macon Central, the defending state champion, is the North No. 1 seed.

Trinity, 14-3, went undefeated last weekend to win the South A State title. The Lady Saints defeated Claiborne Academy 10-3 in the championship game.

After losing to Claiborne to fall to the loser’s bracket, HHS defeated Tensas and Central to advance to the state tournament.

Trinity will face Newton Academy, the North No. 4 seed. at 10:10 a.m.

&uot;Newton is the only school from the North that we don’t anything about,&uot; said Trinity assistant coach Rick Kirby.

Huntington, the South No. 3 seed, was scheduled to take on Desoto School (North No. 2) at 9:10 a.m.

&uot;Desoto backed out due to its graduation taking place on Saturday night,&uot; said Huntington head coach Linous Wilkinson.

Therefore, Huntington advanced and will face the Trinity-Newton winner in the quarterfinals at 1:20 p.m.

Macon Central was scheduled to face Central School, the South No. 4 seed, but Central had to drop out.

Therefore, Macon Central received a first-round bye.

&uot;Macon Central is a mighty strong team,&uot; Wilkinson said. &uot;Trinity and Macon Central will be the strongest teams.&uot;

Huntington beat Macon Central to win the ’98 state championship.

&uot;Over the last couple of years we’ve seen Macon Central, Desoto and Kemper,&uot; Kirby said. &uot;Macon Central went through their tournament like we did.&uot;

Wilkinson said that Kemper is not a great team like Trinity and Macon Central, but &uot;always has a good average ball club.&uot;

Kirby likes his team’s chances of taking the state title.

&uot;If we come out playing with energy and determination like we did last weekend, we’ll have a good day,&uot; Kirby said. &uot;We had a good practice today (Thursday) and the team is ready to play.&uot;

Amber Huff will pitch for the Lady Saints.

Huff has pitched since the seventh grade for the Saints, and struck out 10 batters at South State last week.

&uot;People don’t think you have a strategy in slow pitch,&uot; she said. &uot;Coach Rick (Kirby) watches the girls bat and sees what they do and then he’ll tell me how to pitch. I have my own strategy to the way I pitch and when I will throw certain pitches.&uot;

Wilkinson said his team could very well be the surprise team in the tournament.

&uot;If we hit the ball like we did last weekend (over .500 as a team), we’ll stay in there,&uot; Wilkinson said. &uot;I’ve got a team that’ll be here for the next three years. I’ve got only one senior and no juniors, four 10th graders, five 9th graders and one 8th grader.&uot;

on this team.&uot;

Jo-Lee Hughes will pitch for the Lady Hounds.