DECATUR – Northwest put up quite a fight over the weekend in an MACJC best-of-3 softball playoff series at No. 9 East Central but was swept 13-5 and 17-12 to conclude its 2017 season.
East Central won the series, 2-0, improved to 42-6 overall and will play in this weekend's MACJC Tournament at JCJC. Northwest finished the year 22-20.
The Rangers finished fifth in the conference standings a year after placing ninth and were one of six teams/out of 15 to finish with a winning record this season.
Game 1 – East Central 13, Northwest 5 (5 innings)
Scoreless after two frames, East Central plated seven runs on seven hits in the third to take a commanding lead but had to hold off a five-run Ranger fifth before a 13-5 run-rule win.
Trailing 9-0 and one out from getting run-ruled in the top of the fifth,
Sallie Rose Carver's single to right scored a pair of runs and
Tori Luke hit a three-run home run to ignite a five-run rally to make it 9-5.
Three straight singles to start the bottom of the fifth for EC allowed the winning run to reach the plate and the Warriors would follow with a sac fly, RBI-single and bases loaded hit-by-pitch to extend their lead to 12-5. Abby Winstead's sac fly to right then scored pinch runner Alyssa Pendergrass for the game-winning run.
Kaitlyn Oswalt (21-4) went the distance for EC, scattering seven hits, five runs and four strikeouts/two walks on 80 pitches.
Harley Smith (12-10) lasted just 2.1 innings and surrendered seven runs on 10 hits.
Game 2 – East Central 17, Northwest 12
Trailing 1-0 in the series, Northwest was not intimidated with its backs against the wall and jumped out to a 9-7 lead after four before 10 runs from the Warriors over the final three frames allowed the hosts to sweep the series with a 17-12 win.
The home team on the scoreboard for game two, Northwest trailed 4-0 heading to the bottom of the third before finding its offense.
Ally Judkins' leadoff single, followed by
Kailey Walker's RBI-triple, made it 4-1. Carver followed with an RBI-double to make it 4-2 and
Sarah Taylor's groundout made it a one-run game. Smith would then tie the game at 4-4 on an RBI-single to left before
Leeah Henson's two-run double down the leftfield line made it 6-4.
Northwest ended the frame with a base-running mistake, however, with the Rangers getting doubled up at third on a shallow fly ball to center that shifted momentum back to East Central.
The Warriors immediately capitalized, using Tagen Remmel's leadoff double, a Parkes single and two-run single from Madalyn McMahon to tie the game at 6-6. Cassie Obman's sac fly put the Warriors back on top 7-6.
Judkins walked and Walker singled to put two runners on for Northwest in the bottom of the fourth to setup Luke's three-run home run to straight-away center, her second in two days, to put the Rangers back on top 9-7.
Henson entered in the fifth to pitch for Smith and got two quick outs before a game-changing error at second. A routine ground ball that would've ended the inning and put the Rangers six outs from victory turned into six unanswered runs (unearned) for East Central to put the hosts back up 13-9. After the error, the Warriors had six hits, including a two-run double, two-run triple and two-run home run.
EC tacked on four more in the sixth to extend its lead to 17-9.
Alexis McShan's RBI-double and
Morgan Gresham's two-run double made the final 17-12 in seven innings.
EC out-hit Northwest 20-16 in the series-clinching win. Walker and
Allison Williams had three hits apiece in their final games. Luke, Carver and Smith added two each.
