FULTON – Playing its third NJCAA Top 20 conference opponent on the road Tuesday afternoon, Northwest fell short to No. 18 Itawamba by 4-3 and 8-0 finals.

Itawamba improved to 17-8-1 with the sweep, 7-1 in the MACJC, while Northwest dropped to 8-12-1 and 2-6 in conference play.

Northwest will play its next four MACJC doubleheaders at home, after already facing the top half of the league on the road, beginning with a 1 p.m. twinbill against Meridian (RV) on Thursday (moved up from Friday).

Game 1 – Itawamba 4, Northwest 3 

Macey Cox's RBI-single in the bottom of the fifth, and again in the seventh, helped No. 18 ICC rally for a walk-off win in the opener thanks to Northwest's misfortune.

Northwest rallied from an early 2-0 deficit after Rachel Sternisha's two-run home run in the first.

The Rangers responded with three runs on bases-loaded walks in the third and fifth, to take a 3-2 lead, but stranded nine on base and all but two in scoring position.

A blown call on a stolen base attempt at second allowed ICC to tie the game at 3-3 with two outs in the fifth. Pinch runner Makenzie Toombs was called safe and came around to score two batters later on Cox's single up the middle. 

ICC turned an unbelievable double play to escape damage in the sixth and then won it in the seventh after three infield singles and a wild pitch.

Lacey Coats toughed out seven strong innings in the circle, scattering four runs on 12 hits with four strikeouts on 122 pitches. The Ranger offense was held to just three hits.

Hannah Swallers tossed 2.2 shutout innings for the win in relief.

Game 2 – Itawamba 8, Northwest 0 (5)

Still stinging from the opening game loss, Northwest could never recover and ICC ran away with an 8-0 run-rule win in the nightcap to sweep the day.

Northwest was robbed of a run in the first, with a fair ball down the first base line called foul which would've plated Maddy Politte from third. 

ICC took advantage with a three-run bottom of the first on Kacey Carpenter's two-out, three-run double to left-center.

They'd add a single run in the third and four more in the fourth on just two hits and two Ranger errors to make it 8-0.

Northwest was out-hit 8-3 and committed three errors in the loss. 

Katie Brownlee lasted just one inning to fall to 3-4, while Kaylee Nelson went the distance for ICC to move to 3-2.