Jun. 1—PEARL — Tupelo Christian’s offense showed up early and showed up late, and Daniel Reddout simply showed out.
The Eagles’ bats bracketed six strong innings by Reddout in a 5-2 win over Resurrection Catholic in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 1A state finals on Tuesday afternoon at Trustmark Park.
Game 2 will be at 1 p.m. Thursday.
Reddout (5-0) scattered six hits, struck out four and walked two on 75 pitches.
“He was definitely ready to come out there and do what he’s supposed to do — come out there and shove, give us a chance to win,” TCPS coach Drew Dillard said.
TCPS (24-10) spotted Reddout a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Resurrection Catholic (27-6) managed a run in the third inning and another in the fourth, but Reddout shut down any hopes of a big rally.
Resurrection stranded eight baserunners, including five in scoring position.
“I just mix up pitches, throw it in there and let them hit,” Reddout said. “I’ve got a great defense behind me.”
TCPS made just one error, while Resurrection committed four. Two of those miscues came in the sixth inning, when the Eagles added two insurance runs.
Resurrection starter Cole Tingle (12-2) had settled in after the first inning, but he wound up yielding eight hits — seven of them in the first and sixth innings combined.
Noah Foster led the offense with three hits and an RBI, while Jon Paul Yates had two hits and scored two runs.
“We average about eight runs a game, so we’re going to score some runs,” Dillard said. “We’ve just got to give ourselves a chance on the mound, and Daniel Reddout definitely did that.”
Extra Bases
Big Inning: Kanyon Fleenor had an RBI single, and then another run scored on a dropped pop-up in the sixth.
Big Stat: The top four hitters in Resurrection’s order were a combined 1 for 14.
Coach Speak: “We’ve got to stay focused. We can’t let up. It’s OK if we sweep them.” — Dillard, on Game 2