SENATOBIA – Tenth-ranked East Central pounded out a combined 27 hits and scored 20 runs on Saturday in a pair of 10-0 and 10-6 wins to spoil Sophomore Day for eight members of the Ranger softball program.
East Central improved to 32-10 overall and 19-9 in the MACJC, while Northwest fell to 19-19 and 11-15 to officially be eliminated from postseason contention.
Northwest will host Hinds on Tuesday, April 24 to close out the 2018 season.
Game 1 – East Central 10, Northwest 0
ECCC's Kaitlyn Oswalt tossed a complete-game, five-hit shutout and nine different Lady Warriors had at least one hit in a lopsided game one victory.
Madalyn McMahon put ECCC on the board in the first with an RBI-double and the visitors added two more to lead 3-0 after two.
The lead was just 4-0 after five until a three-run sixth and seventh broke the game wide open.
Northwest had its best scoring chance in the sixth after singles by
Ally Judkins and
Mary Thornburg, but back-to-back outs killed any sort of a rally.
ECCC out-hit Northwest 14-5 in the opener and the Rangers committed three errors.
Game 2 – East Central 10, Northwest 6
A five-run third inning helped Northwest lead 5-2 after five, but ECCC came storming back with eight runs over the final two frames to sweep the doubleheader.
Trailing 2-0 in the third, a one-out single from Judkins helped the Rangers spark a five-run rally.
Harley Smith followed with a two-run single,
Sarah Taylor added a two-run double and
Sarah Johnson singled to short to make it 5-2 Northwest.
Katie Brownlee held the Lady Warriors off the scoreboard in the fourth and fifth before the wheels fell off in the sixth.
A leadoff hit-by-pitch, followed by back-to-back walks, loaded the bases for ECCC with nobody out. Kenyatta Moore then hit a bases-clearing triple to tie the game at 5-5 and the Lady Warriors added two more RBI-singles and double to turn a 5-2 deficit into a 8-5 lead.
With Northwest trailing 10-5 in the bottom of the seventh, a two-out bases-loaded walk to Taylor made it 10-6. Johnson followed with a rocket shot into right field that looked to be down for extra bases, but Alyssa Pendergrass made a great play to run it down to end the game.
Smith was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Judkins and
Alexis McShan added two hits in the loss.