Poplarville, MS – After making their way into the main bracket of the Region 23 Tournament and going on a Cinderella run through #13 Itawamba and #6 Jones to advance to the championship round, #20 Northeast saw their tournament end against #5 Pearl River with a 12-4 finish in five innings. 

Leah Walker started the contest on fire with a hit on the first pitch of the game to get to first base and advancing to second with a walk from Bailey Houston. A misstep by the Tigers resulted in a double play for two outs followed by Adin Shelton striking out to leave the score blank despite a promising start. Pearl River in the bottom of the inning made good on their hits with a 2-RBI triple to left field to put Northeast behind by two entering the second where the Wildcats added another two scores off an RBI single and a bases loaded walk to move up 4-0. 

Chloe Skelton cut the deficit in half with a two-run bomb to right center that put Northeast on the scoreboard in the top of the third to spark the Tiger offense. A two-run homer from the Wildcats in the bottom of the same inning however quickly pushed the Pearl River lead back to four at 6-2. Jeoreia Henry hammered out her sixth home run of the season to keep Northeast alive while Skelton stepped back up and drove in Walker with an RBI single to once more trim the gap to two at 6-4. An RBI single by the Wildcats in the fourth added another run for Pearl River heading to the fifth where a scoreless top of the inning for the Tigers led to their downfall with the Wildcats scoring five runs in the bottom to force a run rule decision at 12-4. 

Key Stats vs. #5 Pearl River:

• Walker went 2-for-2 at the plate with a pair of runs while Skelton went 2-for-3 with one run, a two-run homer, and three RBI. 

Northeast wraps up the Region 23 Tournament with a 3-2 record through five games to improve their 2026 overall record to 41-16 for back-to-back 40+ win seasons and three in the past four years. The Tigers will now wait to see if their season will continue in the NJCAA National Tournament with an at large bid with the bracket being announced next week.