SENATOBIA – Northwest fell on the wrong end of a softball doubleheader sweep against Pearl River on Friday, with the visitors taking a 14-2 run-rule victory in the opener and 9-6 extra-inning win in the finale.
Northwest dropped to 16-16 overall and 8-12 in conference play, while Pearl River improved to 21-17 and 14-10 in the MACJC.
The teams combined for 31 runs on 49 hits in the doubleheader, with the Rangers' 14 hits in game two a season-high.
Six of Northwest's final eight regular season games will be in Senatobia, beginning with a doubleheader on Monday, April 16 at 2 p.m. against Gulf Coast.
Game 1 – Pearl River 14, Northwest 2 (6 inn.)
Northwest led 2-1 after three innings before 13 unanswered runs for Pearl River, including a nine-run sixth, helped the Wildcats to a run-rule win in six.
Maddy Politte singled to start the third and scored on
Harley Smith's RBI-double to left-center to tie the game at 1-1.
Sarah Taylor followed with an RBI-groundout two batters later to score Smith and give Northwest its first lead, 2-1.
PRCC regained the lead in the fourth, scoring a pair on back-to-back RBI-singles with two outs, to pull ahead 3-2.
The Wildcats tacked on two more in the fifth on Halle Malone's double and led 5-2 after five.
Still very much in the game, things fell apart for the Rangers in the sixth. PRCC plated nine runs on five hits and two Northwest errors to blow the game open.
Smith (9-9) allowed 10 runs in the loss in 5.1 innings, but only four of the runs were earned. Dallas Baker (4-1) threw the final six for the Wildcats and allowed just one hit.
PRCC out-hit Northwest 13-7, with Smith and
Morgan Gresham picking up two hits apiece.
Game 2 – Pearl River 9, Northwest 6 (8 inn.)
Northwest battled back from a 5-0 deficit to knot the game at 6-6 and force extras, but a three-run eighth for PRCC helped the Wildcats close out a two-game sweep.
The Rangers cut into a five-run deficit in the third, using a double by
Katie Brownlee to eventually plate one and Smith's RBI-single to make it 5-2 after three.
Trailing 6-2 in the fifth, three straight singles loaded the bases for Northwest with nobody out.
Alexis McShan's two-run double, followed by
Sarah Johnson's infield single, pulled the Rangers within 6-5.
After hanging three straight zeroes in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, Northwest had a chance to tie or win the game in the bottom of the seventh.
Back-to-back singles by Smith and McShan put the tying and winning run on. After a groundout and strikeout, Gresham's infield single to second tied the game at 6-6 and the Rangers had the winning run just 60 feet away in McShan. But a groundout ended the inning and sent the game into extras.
In the extra frame, PRCC jumped all over Smith with a single and back-to-back RBI-doubles to jump back in front 9-6.
Northwest, with the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the eighth and two outs, ended the game on a strikeout.
Nine different Rangers combined for 14 hits, led by Smith's 3-for-5 effort and two hits each from Brownlee, McShan and Taylor. PRCC had 15 hits by 10 different Wildcats.
