HATTIESBURG, Itawamba Agricultural's run to the MHSAA Class 4A Softball State Championship ended one game short. West Lauderdale's Addison Cornish hit a tying-game-breaking home run in the top of the seventh, Aubri Cooper followed with another, and the Lady Knights walked off the USM Softball Complex 5–3 winners on Friday afternoon.
The Lady Indians closed the year 36–5–1, one of the best seasons in program history, and the kind of finish that earns a banner of its own even without the title.
West Lauderdale led 3–1 after four. Itawamba answered in the bottom of the fifth, plating two to tie it. After an error put the leadoff runner aboard, Abri McAlexander came around, and Mia Martin's sacrifice fly scored Mollie McGee to knot it at three.
The seventh changed everything. Cornish, who would be named MVP, drove a solo shot over the wall. Cooper followed her with another solo home run two batters later. 5–3, and that's how it ended.
Layla Owens went the distance in the circle for Itawamba, allowing five runs on nine hits with four walks and three strikeouts over seven innings. She wore the loss but kept her team in the game until the final inning. At the plate, Kooper Reese was the Lady Indians' best hitter, 2-for-4 with an RBI. McGee and Abbie Robertson each doubled. McAlexander, Alden Kline, and Autumn Brown all added singles. Seven hits, three runs, zero errors.
For West Lauderdale (37–5), Cornish finished 2-for-3 with the home run, two RBIs, two runs, and the win in relief, three scoreless innings, one hit, one walk, one strikeout. Cooper went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Sara Grace Robison had a hit and two RBIs.
A heartbreaker. But also: a state final. For the Lady Indians, the rebuild is the work, the run was the proof.
See the full photo gallery from the USM Softball Complex at misshsaa.smugmug.com/2026/Softball/Itawamba-West-Lauderdale-Game-2.
Photo by Bobby McDuffie / MHSAA.
