SENATOBIA – The Northwest Mississippi Community College softball team (9-8, 1-1) picked up a split on Friday afternoon with the #3 Jones College Bobcats (22-5, 1-1), falling in the opening game 9-1 before rallying behind a stellar performance in the circle from Meredith Dearman to take game two 2-1.
"We had a little talk in the locker room to get ourselves back together and get on the same page and they came out an entirely different team. They came out as the team I have known they could be all year," Head Coach Chelsea Bramlett said of the turnaround from game one to game two. "Jones is a really good team top to bottom, they are good defensively, they've got power, they've got speed, so to come out and compete like we did and walk them off, it was a big confidence boost for us and a big win."
GAME 1 – NWCC 1 #3 Jones 9
The first inning went by with very little problems for the Rangers of the Bobcats, with the only baserunner coming on a bloop double with two outs in the top of the first for Jones.
Jones picked up their opening runs in the top of the second inning with a one-out single plating a pair of runs after they led the inning off with singles.
Handley McAtee didn't let the lead stay there for long and lead off the second inning for the Rangers with a solo homerun to left field to cut it to a 2-1 score.
The Bobcats went to work after that, getting a third run in the top of the third on an RBI groundout, then plating three in the top of the fourth when a homerun to left field double the Jones score to make it 6-1.
Another run would come home in the top of the sixth and two more in the seventh to bring the final score to 9-1 on a day when Northwest just couldn't find the offense, only managing two hits in the game as a team.
Catelyn Brown would pick up the loss, falling to 2-5 on the season.
GAME 2 – NWCC 2 #3 Jones 1
Round two of the double header between the Bobcats and the Rangers was a defensive struggle with both teams rallying behind their starting pitchers to throw up zeroes in nearly every inning on the way to a walk off victory for the Rangers.
Defense had to shine in the top of the first when McAtee had to make a quick decision on a play to the plate just two batters in after a leadoff single got to third base on a misplay. A hard ground ball saw McAtee and Gillis team up on a 5-2 putout to get the Rangers up in the bottom of the first still scoreless.
"(Handley) has really come along and got her feet wet for a little while and is really getting into the game and knows exactly what she is doing. Her game IQ has really gone up and she's done well," Bramlett said.
Northwest got on the board first after getting a leadoff single from Ava Claire Rhoden, the Rangers worked her around with a walk and a sacrifice bunt to score her on an RBI groundout from McAtee.
That would be the last run until the top of the sixth, as both Dearman and Breelyn Cain traded shutdown innings, only allowing three baserunners from the top of the second to the top of the sixth between them.
Sela Mancini said it really came from focusing on playing together for the Ranger defense, which played on of their best games of the year in the field.
"We had a little talk in the locker room about how we had to play for each other and stop being selfish and I truly thing we did that on defense and offense and we gave it our all and left it all on the field."
The scoreless streak ended with one out in the top of the sixth when Dearman left a pitch for Mabry Eason and she didn't miss, sending a ball over the center field fence to tie the game at one.
Northwest threatened in the bottom of the inning with a chance to regain the lead, putting two on base but they weren't able to come up with the clutch hit to bring home Rhoden from second.
After a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh, Northwest saw Dearman come through on the offense, picking up a one-out walk, and after exchanging spots on the bases with Allyson Christmas, saw her worked around with a single by Londen Armstrong giving way to an RBI double from Mancini to give Northwest the walk off over a top five team.
"Their coach came in and talked with the pitcher which gave me some time. I just said a quick prayer and I was just thankful that coach gave me the opportunity and I could come through for my team," Mancini said.
Dearman picked up the win in the game, going all seven innings and only allowing five hits and one walk on the way to her seventh win of the year, improving her to 7-2 overall with a 2.18 ERA in 54.2 innings of work.
"I was just really proud of them. I was proud of Dearman and just the game that she threw. It was absolutely phenomenal. You can't throw any better than that," Bramlett said.
Up Next –
The Rangers are heading back on the road at the end of spring break when they will travel to East Central Community College to take on the Warriors on the road. Game times are set for 1 and 3 P.M. from Decatur on Saturday, March 14th.
"This helps a ton," Bramlett said of the momentum they can pick up at the end of a tough week against strong competition that saw seven games against DI or ranked DII opponents. "I know after all those games we need a little bit of a breather so us having that off Tuesday is helping to calm down a little bit."
Keep up with all of the upcoming news from Ranger athletics at nwccrangers.com/watch or by following along on Northwest social media accounts.
