POPLARVILLE, Miss. — Behind a dominant performance in the circle and a late offensive surge, No. 5 Pearl River pulled away from No. 6 Jones for a 5-2 win Monday to secure a spot in Tuesday's Poplarville Regional Championship Game.

"I kind of figured something good was going to happen today," head coach Christie Meeks said. "We came into the locker room dancing at 10 a.m. We were just loose and having fun. This team is in it for the long haul, and that is huge. They want to do something that nobody else has done, and the legacy that they're leaving is huge."

Pearl River (42-6 overall) rode a strong outing from Ana-Grace Garcia (Baton Rouge; St. Joseph's) in the circle against Jones (46-9). Garcia allowed two runs on three hits and struck out seven.

Pearl River took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Addy Grace Alexander (Poplarville) scored on a groundout by Natalee Eaves (Louisville; Choctaw Central).

Jones responded in the second inning, taking a 2-1 lead on a two-run home run that clipped the top of the fence.

After Garcia ended the inning with a strikeout, Pearl River answered to tie the game at 2-2. Teegan DeWitt (Pass Christian; Hancock) drove in the run after Anastasia Acree (Mobile, Ala; Alma Bryant) led off the inning with a single.

Following two and a half scoreless innings, Pearl River broke through again. Jaycee Holifield (Laurel; Stringer) delivered an RBI single to split the left-center gap, and two pitches later, Acree hit her sixth home run of the season to extend the lead to 5-2. The long ball saild over the wall and hit the top of the scoreboard. 

With a three-run cushion, Garcia closed out the final two innings to secure the win.

Acree led Pearl River at the plate with the Wildcats' only multi-hit performance, going 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored.

TICKETS
Tickets for the Region 23 Tournament are $15 per day and are on sale now at PRCCAthletics.com/tickets.

TUNE IN
The entirety of the Region 23 Tournament will be livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com. Fans with Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV devices can also watch the Wildcat broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" channel from their app stores.

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