MUNFORD, Tenn. – Behind four home runs and 25 combined hits, Northwest concluded a long, season-opening road stretch with a 6-3 and 14-9 sweep of Southwest Tennessee on Wednesday evening.
Oakley Laughter,
Brittni Beard,
Madison Crosby and
Emma Grace Schell hammered out homers for the Rangers, while
Kaylei Peterson and
Lacey Coats provided a pair of solid outings in the circle to keep the Lady Saluqis at bay.
With the sweep, Northwest bounced back to an even 6-6 record. The Rangers are set to open MACJC competition and a month-long homestand on Friday afternoon at 1/3 p.m. against Pearl River.
Game 1 – Northwest 6, Southwest Tennessee 3
Brittni Beard and
Oakley Laughter each finished 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBIs as Northwest held off Southwest Tennessee for a 6-3 victory.
Northwest opened the contest with a pair of homers from the aforementioned duo, with Beard driving in two runs on her shot to right center as the Rangers took a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
A bases loaded walk to
Alley Reed helped the Rangers plate another run in the top of the third, but Southwest Tennessee earned one back on a sac fly RBI to right field from Emily Staten, which cut the Northwest lead to 4-1 after three complete.
Kaylei Peterson's RBI-single to short scored Reed from third and an RBI-triple from Laughter gave Northwest a 6-1 advantage in the top of the fifth.
After Shelby Carpenter helped add another Southwest Tennessee run in the bottom half of the fifth, the Lady Saluqis made more noise in the sixth with a sac fly to center, closing the gap to 6-3.
For the better part of the contest, the Rangers were able to do their job in the circle and keep Southwest Tennessee off the board, including in the bottom of the seventh inning where relief pitcher
Lacey Coats sent the home team down 1-2-3 to solidify the Northwest win.
Peterson got the win for Northwest after throwing the first 4.1 innings with two strikeouts against no walks and no earned runs. Coats finished the job over the final 2.2 innings with a strikeout.
Game 2 – Northwest 14, Southwest Tennessee 9
Southwest Tennessee's grand slam in the top of the first could have taken the wind out of the sails for Northwest, but the Rangers instead responded with by scoring at least one run in every remaining inning to edge Southwest Tennessee for the road sweep.
Northwest made the biggest offensive impact in the fifth inning with five runs and four more in the seventh.
After Haley Cook's grand slam put Northwest behind 4-0 after the completion of the first inning, the Rangers rallied back with a pair of runs across the next two frames to slice the deficit in half to 4-2.
With
Saige Koczka's RBI grounder and
Taylor Lott scoring from home off a stolen base, Northwest tied the contest at 4-4 in the top of the fourth.
MaKayla Pugh's two-run single up the middle in the bottom half of the fourth gave Southwest Tennessee a 6-4 lead, but a two-run homer to left center from Crosby and a three-run double from
Emma Grace Schell helped the Rangers score five in the fifth to regain a 9-6 advantage.
MyCala Helms kept the heat going for Northwest in the top of the sixth, scoring Crosby on a triple to make it a 10-6 lead.
Cook launched her second homer, a two-run shot, in the bottom half of the sixth to pull the Lady Saluqis back within two runs, 10-8.
Any rally from Southwest Tennessee was shut down with four Ranger runs in the seventh inning, as Schell smashed a two-run homer to left center along with a pair of RBI-doubles from
Molly Beth Ferguson and
Abby Stephens. The Lady Saluqis would get one back off a fielder's choice in the final frame but it wasn't enough to mount a serious comeback against Northwest.
In all, both teams combined for 29 hits in the nightcap with Northwest earning 17 hits.
Helms led Northwest at the plate with a 4-for-5 effort and an RBI, followed by five RBIs in a 2-for-4 performance from Schell. Crosby also went 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
Coats picked up the win for the Rangers after tossing five strikeouts in five innings of action.
