SCOOBA – The #18 Northwest Mississippi Community College softball team (16-9, 8-2) picked up a hard-fought sweep over the East Mississippi Community College Lions (9-19, 1-11) on Tuesday afternoon, rallying back to win their opening game 4-2 in extra innings before powering their way to a 12-6 win in the nightcap.
The wins improved the Rangers standings in the MACCC, moving them into a tie with Southwest Mississippi Community College (21-5, 8-2) in the standings, and putting them just a half game back of Pearl River Community College (23-3, 7-1) and two games back of the defending National Champions in Copiah-Lincoln Community College (29-2, 10-0).
GAME 1 – #18 NWCC 4 East Mississippi 2 – 8 innings
Both teams traded runs in the opening inning, with Northwest capitalizing on an error with the bases loaded that brought home Mary Madison Kelley and the Lions using an RBI groundout to score their opening run in the bottom half of what would turn into a pitchers dual.
Catelyn Brown got the ball in the circle for the Rangers, and pitched well through six innings, only giving up one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning when a one-out double to left field brought home the go ahead run for East.
Northwest picked up a pair of baserunners in the top of the seventh, and a two out single by Handley McAtee would come up big to plate the tying run and send the game to extras with Ava Claire Rhoden being brought home to even the game at two.
Meredith Dearman entered the game for the Rangers and worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh with a pair of strikeouts setting up the offense with a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth.
A Lindsey Gillis single plated both Sela Mancini and Emma Jennings after the duo had led off the inning with a pair of singles, although Gillis was thrown out attempting to stretch the single into a double.
Dearman worked a second 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the eighth, including another two strikeouts to secure the win for her tenth of the season.
GAME 2 – #18 NWCC 12 East Mississippi 6
Northwest kept up the offensive momentum from the first game with a long first inning against the Lions in game two, scoring seven times thanks to eight singles and a double, as well as a pair of errors committed by East.
Kate Johnson got the start for the Rangers in her third start of the season and got touched up for a pair of runs by EMCC in the bottom of the first after the loaded the bases with one out. A sacrifice bunt would bring home one run and an error on a ball hit to third would plate the second run for the Lions as they closed the gap to five.
Scoreless frames in the top and bottom of the second inning seemed to say that both sides were settling in, but the Rangers had other ideas, adding three more runs in the top of the third inning, all with two outs.
It started with an RBI single by Carleigh Calarco and was finished with two more singles from Londen Armstong and Kelley to score both Calarco and Mancini, extending the lead to 10-2.
Johnson ran into more trouble in the bottom of the third inning when East would score on a passed ball after a leadoff walk and a double put runners on second and third, and a three-run home run would chase the Rangers starter from the game in place of Dearman for the second time in the day.
East would strikeout and line out to end the frame, and Dearman wouldn't allow another run to the Lions for the rest of the game, holding them to just three hits over the final 4.2 innings while striking out seven.
The offense for Northwest added another pair of runs thanks to an RBI single from McAtee in the sixth and a home run from Armstrong in the top of the seventh, her first of her career, padding the lead and making it 12-6.
Dearman once again would pick up the win, improving to 11-3 on the year, giving up no runs in her relief effort which was her 19th of the season and ninth in relief. Johnson would finish with 2.1 innings of work, allowing six runs, although only five were earned, and just five hits.
UP NEXT –
The Rangers will be back on the road this weekend as they take their longest road trip of the season in conference play, heading south to face #24 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (18-13, 4-8). Games are set to begin at 1 and 3 PM. Tou can find streaming and ticket information online at nwccrangers.com.
Keep up with Northwest athletics all season long by following along with Ranger social media accounts.
