Mississippi
Spring Scholastic Chess Tournament at Mississippi Children’s Museum-Meridian on Saturday
MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) – Players from all over the East Mississippi area competed at the Scholastic Spring Chess Tournament at the Mississippi Children’s Museum of Meridian on Saturday morning.
The 1500 year old game was turned into a multi-level tournament in swiss-format with K-8 unrated and rated players, and K-12 rated players. There were a total of 5 rounds for the entire game.
“We have a lot of rated players, which means we have a lot of serious players showing up,” said Daniel Roberts, Northwest Middle School Chess Team’s Coach. “We also have a lot of unrated players, especially in the K-3 K-8 area, which means we have a lot of new players who are starting to get interested in chess and that’s what we need for the growth, to get people into it and started.”
Chess is a way to get children involved while also sharpening their brain skills on many different levels.
“Chess has a direct impact on math, reading, problem solving, even behavioral skills,” said Roberts. “They get so much more out of it by learning how to play chess, and it’s just a great development skill all around.”
Some of the players were trained by their parents, and others are on actual chess teams at their schools.
“It has really become such a thing; a lot of schools are teaching chess and have chess clubs now,” said Hope Vollm, who is the Assistant Director of Education and Programs at MCM. “I know they were just saying, like Kemper County has just like really started out in their schools and they brought a whole bus today. Meridian does it as well, and Lamar has a chess team.”
There were more than 70 children who played in the chess tournament. Not only were there several participants, but their parents stayed and supported them through their game.
“Also what I’m excited about is we have a lot of parents showing up and the parent involvement is so important with these kids getting them in something as productive as chess,” said Roberts.
Trophies were awarded to the top three players in each division.
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The SEC regular season champion Georgia Bulldogs (43-12, 23-7 SEC) begin the SEC Tournament against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. Mississippi State is 40-16 (16-14 SEC) entering their matchup with Georgia. Mississippi State is coming off a 12-2 run-rule win in seven innings over Missouri.
The Bulldogs enters the SEC Tournament having won 11 of their last 12 games. Georgia leads the nation in home runs. Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson was recently named as the SEC player of the year.
“We’re planning on going with our regular routine,” Georgia baseball manager Wes Johnson said ahead of the SEC Tournament. “From a pitching standpoint on Thursday, we have a lot of guys who will be ready to throw. I’ll see who wins the first few games before we announce exactly what we’re planning to do, but we’re staying with it. We’ve got guys on bullpen schedules, as if we’re playing a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series.”
No. 1 seed Georgia and No. 8 seed Mississippi State met three times during the regular season with Georgia earning a road sweep at Mississippi State.
Watch Georgia vs Mississippi State live on Fubo (free trial)
Here’s how to watch the Georgia vs Mississippi State game today, including time, TV schedule, and streaming information:
What channel is Georgia vs Mississippi State on today?
TV Channel: SEC Network
Livestream: Fubo (free trial)
Georgia vs Mississippi State will broadcast nationally on SEC Network in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. Tom Hart and Dave Neal are alternating play-by-play duties throughout the SEC Tournament alongside analysts Todd Walker, Lance Cormier, Chris Burke and Kyle Peterson, who will be calling games from the booth at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. Streaming options for the game include FUBO, which offers a free trial to new subscribers.
Georgia vs Mississippi State time today
- Date: Thursday, May 21
- Start time: 4 p.m. ET
The Georgia vs Mississippi State game starts at 4 p.m. from Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.
Georgia vs Mississippi State prediction, College World Series odds
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Wednesday, May 20
We predict Georgia will defeat Mississippi State to advance in the SEC Tournament. Georgia swept Mississippi State during the regular season and has been elite against SEC opponents this season, so we can’t pick against UGA.
Georgia (plus-1000) and Mississippi State (plus-1000) both have top-five best odds to win the College World Series. Georgia and Mississippi State are only behind Texas (plus-900), Georgia Tech (plus-600) and UCLA (plus-550).
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Mississippi
Death investigation underway after Columbia Academy graduate taken off life support in Florida
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WDAM) – A death investigation has been opened after deputies in Florida responded to a life-threatening call involving a recent Columbia Academy graduate.
WDAM’s sister station, WJHG, reported that the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said Shannon Thomas Tanner, 19, was expected to be taken off of life support Wednesday after being declared brain dead.
According to the incident report obtained by WJHG, on Sunday, May 18, deputies arrived at a home in Panama City Beach and were told that Tanner had been drinking alcohol.
The report says an investigator asked someone at the home what happened, with the person telling the investigator that Tanner was “drinking too much.” EMS reportedly treated Tanner on scene.
BCSO is investigating the death of a 19-year-old from Mississippi
The cause of the medical emergency has not been confirmed, and the investigation is ongoing.
According to a GoFundMe set up to help with funeral expenses, Tanner was on his senior trip after graduating from Columbia Academy.
Columbia Academy made a Facebook post expressing its condolences for the family, saying the recent graduate was “the kind of person who can make anyone laugh, light up a room with his personality and dance moves, and make others feel valued simply by being himself.”
Return to WDAM 7 for updates on this developing story.
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Copyright 2026 WDAM. All rights reserved.
Mississippi State softball is one step away from reaching the program’s first Women’s College World Series.
But to get there, the Bulldogs (41-18) will have to get through one of the top programs in the sport.
MSU is facing Oklahoma (51-8), the No. 3 national seed, in the NCAA Tournament super regional. The best-of-three series begins May 22 (noon, ESPN2) at Love’s Field in Norman, Oklahoma.
Here is a scouting report and prediction for the super regional.
Oklahoma easily won its regional
The Sooners breezed through the Norman Regional, outscoring Binghamton, Kansas and Michigan 28-1 in three games.
That wasn’t much of a surprise for a team that’s made nine consecutive Women’s College World Series and hasn’t missed a super regional since 2009. Oklahoma has won eight national championships, seven of them since 2013.
Oklahoma is 27-1 at home this season, with the only loss to Arkansas on April 18.
Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts played at Oklahoma from 2006-09 and then was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma from 2009-11.
MSU is 0-11 all time against Oklahoma.
Oklahoma led by Kendall Wells’ 37 home runs
The offense has been Oklahoma’s strength, especially from a power standpoint. The Sooners have hit 182 home runs in 2026, the second most in the country behind UCLA and 80 more than the next best SEC team.
Freshman Kendall Wells has 37 home runs, the most in program and SEC history. Four other players have at least 19 home runs.
The Sooners also rank first in the SEC in batting average and runs scored.
Oklahoma’s pitching staff ranks eighth in the SEC with a 3.02 ERA.
Can Alyssa Faircloth continue dominance vs Oklahoma?
A big part of Mississippi State winning the Eugene Regional was Alyssa Faircloth’s dominant pitching. She threw 15⅔ shutout innings in the regional. That included a no-hitter against host Oregon and then another complete-game shutout against Saint Mary’s in the regional final.
The Troy transfer and SEC Newcomer of the Year has a 2.28 ERA and 16-7 record. Her 261 strikeouts are a single-season program record.
The Bulldogs, who rank third in the SEC in team ERA at 2.15, also have Peja Goold, who started the first game of the Eugene Regional. She has a 2.12 ERA and 15-10 record.
Mississippi State vs OU softball super regional prediction
Oklahoma wins super regional 2-0: The Sooners are a big step up in competition. Faircloth and Goold give MSU a chance, but the offense will need to keep up.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
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