I saw my old friend, Brookhaven Academy head softball coach Lisa Covington, at Broma’s Deli after church on Sunday. She was waiting in line to order with her three youngest girls while my daughter and I waited on our food to arrive.

I wondered if she was pondering whether she wanted a sandwich or chicken strips or if she was thinking about Parklane Academy and the upcoming game on Monday against the Pioneers.

I walked over and confirmed that she had softball on her mind. The day before the Cougars had beaten East Rankin Academy 3-0 and Bayou Academy 15-3 in the opening two rounds of bracket play at the MAIS 5A State Tournament in Magee.

At the same time, Parklane was picking up a 4-1 win over Leake Academy and a 1-0 win over Cathedral School in Magee to set up a matchup with BA in a winner’s bracket showdown on Monday in Simpson County.

The only two teams to beat Brookhaven Academy (30-5) this season were Cathedral (23-7) and Parklane (24-9). Before Monday, the Cathedral Green Wave were 2-1 against the Cougars and the Pioneers were 3-1 in head-to-head matchups with BA. Just a week prior, Parklane beat the Cougars twice in winning the 5A South State Tournament hosted by BA at the Hansel King Sports Complex.

So yeah, Covington had more than a Whitworth Club on her mind when she sat down for lunch on Sunday. The game on Monday carried huge implications, as a win would give BA the advantage of hosting two games in the upcoming championship series. A loss could lead to another game against Cathedral in the loser’s bracket.

Covington told me she’d just talked to an old coaching mentor of hers and asked them for any tips about what the Cougars needed to do in order to beat the Pioneers.

“He said you’ve got to hit the ball,” said Covington with a grin.

“If it was only that easy,” I replied with a laugh.

The Cougars did finally start hitting the ball on Thursday in the series clinching win over PA, as they out slugged the Pioneers 12-8 in that game.

Before that, the Cougars won 1-0 on Monday and 3-2 on Wednesday to set up the final victory on Thursday.

There really is nothing like a close, low scoring softball game between two great teams and the Cougs and Pios have a history of playing those types of matchups. The kind that will make your stomach knot up and cause your throat to get tight as you wait for one side or the other to make a mistake.

Last year I was at BA watching a regular season matchup between these same teams, one of the nine times they played in 2023. Then junior Bailey Parks hit a three-run home run for the Cougars in the bottom of the seventh. It was the only hit of the night for the home team in a 3-2 win.

It was one of the best high school games, regardless of sport, that I’ve ever seen in person.

The tension that night ratcheted as Parklane pitcher Ashleigh Reed Sharp and Ann Elise Duncan of Brookhaven Academy battled in the circle.

I looked over at another watcher at that game, someone with ties to college softball, and asked them, “will all the starters in this game end up playing college ball?”

They’ll all most likely get that chance if they want it, he replied. And there are plenty of young players on each bench that will get a chance one day too, I added.

Another thing that makes the matchups between these schools so tight is how well they know each other. Duncan gave up a solo home run to Parklane catcher and Southern Miss commit Isabella Coker in game one on Wednesday.

The two went to school together at North Pike while in junior high. Coker first transferred to Parklane and later Duncan made the move to Brookhaven Academy. They’d played travel ball together and played it against each other.

I asked Duncan how many times she’d faced Coker as a batter, after she struck out the slugger to end the game on Wednesday.

“A bunch,” was the best reply Duncan could muster.

When you’re equally talented, both have future college pitchers in the circle, and have played almost 20 times combined over the last two seasons, where does the winning advantage come from?

For BA, it came via their mental toughness. The Cougars were able to put the losses from the week before in the rearview and attack the game on Monday with focus.

When they got down 2-0 on Wednesday at home, they didn’t panic, but instead scored three unanswered runs to take the game 3-2.

Afterwards, I talked with Covington for the first time since Sunday lunch.

“I know you’ve heard me say this before, but it’s really all about locking in and maintaining that focus from the first pitch until the last out,” said Covington as she reflected on the win. “We drill that in their head so much that they can’t help but believe it.”

Never was that mental toughness more needed than on Thursday in game two.

Parklane led throughout the game, answering each BA run with a scoring surge of its own.When BA did go up 6-5, Parklane tied the game up in the next half inning.

With the bases loaded and two outs, junior outfielder Alayna Daigle hit a bases-clearing double that delivered a 9-6 victory for the Cougars in the top of the seventh. An unforgettable moment for a diehard group of BA softball fans, parents and supporters.

Every championship team has its own identity.

The 2021 state title team, one that Covington served as an assistant on under former coach Becky Flowers, was a talent loaded, senior led group that won it all to deliver on its championship or bust expectations to provide the fist title in program history.

The next year, the 2022 team, with many of the same starters from the current squad, were almost too young to be nervous, as they cruised to a title in Covington’s first season as head coach.

This group, these 2024 champions, will be remembered as a team that had an unmatched mental toughness when it was most needed. A team that played with a winning edge from the first pitch until the final out, just like their coaches told them to.

Cliff Furr is the sports editor at The Daily Leader. He can be reached via email at sports@dailyleader.com