A Brookhaven Academy softball program that has won two state titles and finished as runners-up once in the last three seasons will begin another march towards postseason glory on Saturday with the beginning of the MAIS 5A South State Tournament.

The Cougars will host the tournament that starts on Saturday and concludes on Monday (Sept. 30) at the Hansel King Sports Complex.

Seeded no. 2 out of MAIS District 3-5A behind their rivals from Parklane Academy, BA gets tournament play started at 10 a.m. on Saturday against St. Aloysius (8-12).

The other 10 a.m. first round games included Parklane (17-6) against Adams County Christian School (13-11-1), Cathedral School (17-3) versus Oak Forest Academy (24-6) and Copiah Academy (15-12-3) against Columbia Academy (17-9).The winner of the BA and St. Al game will draw the winner of the Copiah and Columbia matchup. Winner’s bracket games are scheduled to start at 12 p.m.

If you win twice on Saturday, then you’ve got a spot in the final game of the winner’s bracket at 10 a.m. on Monday. The championship matchup is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Monday.

BA finished runners-up last year in the 5A state tournament to Parklane and comes into the postseason with a 22-3 overall record. Coach Lisa Covington and her team closed the season with a four-game win streak as they defeated Columbia Academy (8-7), Centreville Academy (16-0), Amite School Center (8-1), and Oak Forest (14-7) after losing 3-1 to Parklane.

BA beat Parklane 4-2 when the schools first played. The other two losses this season for the Cougars both came against Cathedral. Parklane is the defending 5A South State champion as they captured the tournament last season by beating BA in the championship game.

The MAIS 5A State Tournament will take place next week at the Magee Sports Complex.