By Staff
Star Tracking …
May 22, 2001
JACKSON At this point last year, Mississippi's season was long over and the Rebels were looking for a new coach. On Friday, Ole Miss will begin phase three of its unexpected turnaround season in the NCAA regionals. The road to the College World Series starts in New Orleans for the second-seeded Rebels (38-12-1). No. 3 seed Oklahoma State will be Ole Miss' first opponent. Tulane is the host school and top seed in the four-team regional that also includes Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Southern. The pairings for the 64-team field were announced Monday. Southeastern Conference champion Mississippi State earned the top seed in the Columbus, Ohio regional hosted by Ohio State. Under first-year coach Mike Bianco, Ole Miss was one of the SEC's most surprising teams. The Rebels were picked to finish at the bottom of the SEC West, but instead they contended for a league title and were ranked nationally most of the season.
May 22, 1997
PHILADELPHIA The city of Philadelphia honored one of its favorite daughters Wednesday, with ceremonies honoring women's basketball standout Pashen Thompson at Philadelphia High School. Thompson, a member of two straight national championship teams at the University of Tennessee, had her uniform No. 22 retired by the school, was given a key to the city and a proclamation by the Neshoba County Board of Supervisors, which declared Wednesday Pashen Thompson Day in the county.
Officially, Ole Miss football coach Tommy Tuberville's new contract is a four-year deal through the 2000 season. The new deal made public Wednesday will satisfy state College Board policy, but Ole Miss officials insist that Tuberville will be around longer likely as long as the 10 years both sides had sought.
May 22, 1992
McLaurin's Cliff Butts may not have been the biggest man on Southeast Lauderdale's baseball field Thursday night, but he used his 5-foot-1/2 inch, 120-pound frame to give his dad the biggest smile and bring an end to the homestanding Tigers' Cinderella season. Butts, a sophomore, used a variety of breaking pitches to strike out 11 men and throw no-hit ball for five innings of relief as the visiting Tigers came from behind to knock off Southeast 9-6 in extra innings. The win claimed the 2A South State championship for McLaurin (21-8), the defending Class 2A state champs. The homestanding Tigers, who had won 10 in a row going into this series, end their season at 15-9.
Ryan Satcher
Sports Faces …
Richmond Alexander
One of the reasons behind Meridian High School being considered to be one of the state's top teams this spring is junior shortstop Richmond Alexander. The Wildcats finished 34-8 and advanced to the third game of the South State 5A Championship series.
Alexander did his part by anchoring the Wildcats interior defense at shortstop. He also was the team's leadoff batter hitting .405 with 47 hits and 49 runs scored. Alexander was awarded on Saturday by being named to the second team Class 5A All-State team by the Mississippi Association of Coaches.
There was no doubt what was his season highlight was a dramatic game two win at home against Oak Grove in the South State series.
Jeff Byrd