The St. Patrick Lady Irish put together an exciting and magical 2024 season, but they ran into a buzzsaw in the shape of the Mantachie Lady Mustangs, who swept St. Patrick to take the Class 3A state championship at the Southern Miss Softball Complex in Hattiesburg.
The Lady Mustangs won 13-0 and 7-5, led by two-time 3A Miss Softball Ramsey Montgomery, who no-hit the Lady Irish in the series opener on Wednesday and then held on to win the Game Two clincher on Thursday. Mantachie finished 32-5.
“The first game of the series was rough,” said St. Patrick assistant coach Lea Santiago. “I think we had a lot of nerves, and that’s expected. We couldn’t find that breakthrough and momentum we needed to get us going. Mantachie came out swinging, and they hit the ball really well.”
One of those hitters, Allysa Gray, who was 4-for-7 in the series with eight RBIs, hit a grand slam in the first game and a three-run homer in the second game to take the series MVP.
“The second game was much better for us and, the girls came out with a better all-around approach,” said Santiago. “The nerves were still there, along with really high emotions, but we swung the bat well, and had a much better mindset when we stepped in the box. We just couldn’t outhit our errors.
“The girls fought hard, our pitching staff did a great job in the circle and gave us the best chance to win.”
Mantachie coach Kristi Montgomery, Ramsey’s mother, joined her daughter for a storybook ending. It was the final game for both at Mantachie. The coach will retire and Ramsey will continue to play softball at Northeast Community College.
The Lady Irish’s fourth, fifth, and sixth hitters led the team in the second game.
Brooklyn Mitchell batted 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Rowan Romano was 1-for-3 and Sophia Oehms finished 1-for-2 with a run scored and two RBIs.
St. Patrick’s Peyton Parks was also 1-for-2 and leadoff hitter Tara Nasakaitis had a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored for the Lady Irish.
“Overall, this season we had a lot of growth,” said Santiago. “We started this season with two new coaches, myself, and coach Paige Johnson, under head coach Ted Williams and assistant coach Val Sentelle. So not only did the girls have to adjust to new leadership, but we as a coaching staff had to learn each other as well.
“I don’t think we were expected to make it as far as we did, not because the talent wasn’t there, but because of all the new additions and personalities and expectations that we as a coaching staff put into place.
“But when some teams would have had that as resistance, they didn’t. They rose to the occasion and exceeded all our expectations for the season. Overall, I could not be prouder of them.”
Early in the season, St. Patrick had a three-game run in which the Lady Irish faced D’Iberville twice and Hancock—two larger classification teams.
D’Iberville won its 7A first-round playoff series and Hancock was just defeated by South Panola in the 6A state championship.
At the second D’Iberville game, Williams said his girls were a little upset at him because they were playing these higher ranked teams, but he and the rest of the coaching staff agreed it was the best way to prepare the team.
“We as a coaching staff all agreed with the idea of, if you want to be the best, you have to play the best,” said Santiago. “We played a lot of tough teams early in the season and saw a lot of great pitching and great bats. It strengthened us.”
As the 3A state runner-up, St. Patrick ends the season at 23-14.