PERKINSTON – In a back and forth set of games that was fitting for a battle between a pair of top 25 teams, the #18 Northwest Mississippi Community College softball team (17-10, 9-3) split their road double header with #24 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (19-14, 5-9) on Saturday afternoon.
The Rangers dropped the opener 6-4 in extra innings before picking up a 4-3 win in game two at Ross-Smith Field to cap off a 3-1 week in MACCC play, moving into a three-way tie with Jones College and Southwest Mississippi Community College at the midway point of the season.
Head Coach Chelsea Bramlett said while they left some opportunities on the table, it wasn't a bad day for the Rangers.
"Overall, we didn't hit bad, we're just running ourselves out of some innings on the base paths and not making good decisions," she said." I'm all for aggression but we have to be smarter. We had some defensive miscues that didn't help either, but we pulled out a split on the road to a ranked team so I can't complain."
GAME 1 – NWCC 4 Mississippi Gulf Coast 6 (8 innings)
The Rangers found themselves in a hole after the first inning as the Bulldogs were able to jump in front after a three-run first inning, using walks and singles to pick away at Meredith Dearman before the Northwest starter could get comfortable in the circle.
An answer in the form of a two-out, two-run double from Lillianna Cates closed the gap to 3-2 when Ava Claire Rhoden and Emma Jennings were brought home in the top of the third inning and two more runs would be plated in the top of the fourth when Lindsey Gillis powered her first home run of the season over the centerfield wall to give the Rangers their first lead of the game at 4-3.
MGCCC didn't wait long to answer back in the bottom half of the fourth, driving a triple to left field and using a sacrifice bunt to score the run and even the game at four all. Another run was foiled from coming home when Gillis helped to turn a 2-3 double play with Mary Madison Kelley to get out of the inning.
Only two total runners would reach base for the rest of regulation in the game as the two sides went to extra innings in a pitcher dual, and it would be the Bulldogs who would capitalize first.
After getting the heart of the Rangers order out 1-2-3 in the top of the eighth inning, the leadoff batter of for the Bulldogs would get on to set up Piper Rushing, who proceeded to drive out a walk-off home run to give MGCCC the game one win 6-4.
Dearman, who threw 110 pitches in the game, would finish with six strikeouts in seven plus innings of work, but had constant pressure on base with 13 runners reaching on nine hits, three walks, and an error.
GAME 2 – NWCC 4 Mississippi Gulf Coast 3
Game two got off to a much different start as defense ruled the action early.
Both sides were able to turn double plays in the first two innings, and it was again the Bulldogs who took the early lead, using another triple to set up a sacrifice fly that game MGCCC the opening 1-0 advantage over Catelyn Brown.
Northwest's offense didn't take long to respond, striking by way of an Rhoden RBI single to score Londen Armstrong, tying the game after the Ranger left fielder led off the top of the third with a single and an Emma Jennings walk moved her into scoring position.
The Rangers loaded the bases later in the inning which set up Cates with an RBI single to score Jennings, and Rhoden would come home to score on a fielder's choice ground out by Carleigh Calarco to push the Northwest lead to 3-1.
That score held until the bottom of the sixth inning when a pair of doubles by MGCCC cut the lead to 3-2, and a sacrifice bunt would bring home the tying run with two outs in the inning.
Northwest got out of the inning when Brooklyn Mitchell was caught stealing third by Lindsey Gillis, which was the ninth runner that the Ranger catcher has caught stealing this year, giving her nine on the season and matching the single season mark set by Lindsey Brewer in 2011.
The Rangers got to work early in the seventh inning when Armstrong led off the inning with a walk before stealing second for her team leading 14th stolen base of the year, advancing a few pitches later to third on a wild pitch to put the go-ahead run in scoring position with none out. Gillis came through again for Northwest, lining out to right field with a ball deep enough to score Armstrong and give the 4-3 lead back to the Rangers.
Brown shut down the Bulldogs in the bottom of the seventh with a clean 1-2-3 inning of work and the Rangers were able to pick up the split behind Browns fifth win of the season. The sophomore also picked up her fifth complete game of the year, keeping the MGCCC lineup off balance, only giving up seven hits and striking out a pair through the seven innings of work.
"Catelyn Brown pitched a gem in game two and really kept them off balance. I was proud of her performance today," Bramlett said.
Rhoden was a catalyst for the Rangers in both games, continuing her strong season in the leadoff roll with 4-8 day, two runs, and an RBI. She was joined with clutch performances from up and down the line with Cates and Armstrong have key at bats in pivotal moments.
"Ava was .500 on the day, Lilliana and Londen had pretty good days at the plate as well. We just have to capitalize and not run ourselves out of innings."
UP NEXT –
The Rangers are back home for an important pair of games, starting off with Coahoma Community College (0-28, 0-14) on Tuesday at 1 and 3 pm before wrapping up the week with Southwest Mississippi Community College (22-6, 9-3) on Friday afternoon in a double header with major implications on the conference standings.
Both double headers will be streamed online at nwccrangers.com/watch. Keep up with updates on Ranger athletics and action by following along on Northwest social media accounts.
