A year after it came within a game of winning the MAIS Class 2A softball championship, a rebuilding Porter’s Chapel Academy team was not able to conjure up a repeat performance.

The Lady Eagles wrapped up a difficult season on Saturday with two losses in the Class 2A South State tournament, falling 9-2 to Glenbrook Academy and 12-2 to Union Christian. PCA finished the season with a 3-18-1 record.

PCA had a bye in the first round of the South State tournament, and matched up with Glenbrook in a rematch of last year’s Class 2A championship series. Glenbrook jumped on the Lady Eagles for four runs in the first inning, three more in the second, and then pushed the lead to 8-0 in the third.

Porter’s Chapel did not get on the scoreboard until the top of the seventh, when Marley Bufkin hit an RBI single and Olivia Masterson drew a bases-loaded walk. Bufkin finished 1-for-4 with the one RBI, and Katie Tillman had three hits.

The loss dropped the Lady Eagles into the losers’ bracket against Union Christian, where another slow start doomed them. Union Christian scored three runs in each of the first two innings to wipe out a 2-0 deficit, and tacked on four in the fourth inning to blow the game open.

Macey Bufkin doubled in the first inning to drive in both of PCA’s runs.

Franklin 8, Tallulah 5
Natalie Roberts went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Taylor Biggs and Anne Elise Sartin each had two hits and scored two runs, and Franklin Academy ended Tallulah Academy’s run in the MAIS Class 1A South State tournament on Monday.

Tallulah went 3-2 in the South State tournament, beating Rebul Academy twice and Riverdale Academy once, but losing to Franklin twice. The second loss to Franklin came in the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament. Franklin scored in each of the first four innings to build a 7-2 lead, and then held off a late comeback bid by Tallulah.

Tallulah (13-12-2) scored three runs in the fifth inning to cut it to 7-5. Faith Kivett drove in two of them with an inside-the-park home run, and Jessica Bullock hit an RBI single. The Lady Trojans left the tying run at second base, however, and only had one base runner in the last two innings.

Kivett finished the game 4-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored, while Bullock and Summer Fortenberry each drove in one run.

In five tournament games, Kivett batted .706 (12-for-17) with three triples, three home runs, 10 RBIs and 11 runs scored.

Tallulah Academy still advanced to the Class 1A state tournament that begins Saturday at the Magee Sportsplex in Magee. The Lady Trojans will face Deer Creek Saturday at 11 a.m. in the first round of the double-elimination tournament.