MOORHEAD – It was a banner day for the #17 Northwest Mississippi Community College softball team (26-13, 18-6) as they swept the Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans (11-35, 3-23) on Tuesday afternoon at the Carl and Brenda Grubb Softball Complex, taking the opening game 11-2 in six innings before rolling to a 12-1 win in game two.
The wins keep the Rangers in fourth place in the MACCC and set up a pair of pivotal doubleheaders on Thursday and Saturday with big implications in both the conference standings and the national rankings going into the postseason, which is set to begin on April 30th with play-in games and bracket play beginning on Friday, May 1st, and continuing through Sunday, May 3rd.
GAME 1 – #17 NWCC 11 Mississippi Delta 2
It didn't take long for the Rangers to establish themselves in the opening frame of game one, picking up four runs after a leadoff walk followed by a pair of singles that loaded the bases for Sela Mancini. The freshman would come through with an RBI single to score Ava Claire Rhoden to get the offense off and running.
Another run would score when Londen Armstrong hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Handley McAtee, and Mary Madison Kelley capped off the inning with a single to left field to score both Carleigh Calarco and Mancini, extending the lead to 4-0.
The Rangers added on to the lead in the top of the third when Calarco, Mancini, and Londen Armstrong loaded the bases with none out and Emma Jennings promptly brought home two with a single to center field. An error extended the inning and Handley McAtee picked up an RBI when she singled home Armstrong to make it 7-0.
Mississippi Delta added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning when a bloop hit to right field hit off of the glove of Mancini, and the error resulted in one run scoring and a runner on third. The runner came home on a passed ball to help MDCC close it to a 7-2 game, but the Rangers would get one back in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Rhoden to score Jennings.
The game was closed down by the Rangers in the top of the sixth inning when the bats really came to life, keyed by a lead-off home run by Calarco that made it 9-2. Mancini tripled to right center and was brought home by Armstrong's RBI single to put the run rule into effect at 10-2, and one more came home later on another single by Jennings that scored Armstrong.
Dearman closed out what was another impressive start with a pair of strikeouts as she finished the game with her 18th win of the season, picking up ten strikeouts for the second consecutive start and only giving up one earned run.
All but one Ranger in the starting lineup scored in the game, and the big bats came from Calarco, who was 4-4 with a home run and three runs scored and Jennings, who was 3-4 with three RBIs. Mancini was also impressive, picking up three runs on a 2-3 day with an RBI.
GAME 2 - #17 NWCC 12 Mississippi Delta 1
After a quick first inning for both teams that saw the game scoreless going to the second inning, the Ranger bats woke up again, rallying for a seven-run inning to put the Trojans on their heels, scoring seven runs to give starting pitcher Catelyn Brown plenty of support.
Northwest took advantage of an early error that helped put runners on first and second, and then proceeded to pick up RBI hits from Armstrong, Jennings, Rhoden, McAtee, and Calarco before the inning came to a close with the Rangers holding a 7-0 lead and taking the wind out of the Trojans sails.
"It felt a lot easier when your offense is producing behind you," Brown said. "I felt like it was truly a team effort. It really gave me peace knowing that even if I did leave one fat or even if they did score, my offense was going to continue to produce."
That said, the Trojans did try to muster some runs in the bottom of the second, but much like she had in the first inning, Brown was able to work out of the trouble thanks to three strikeouts in the inning.
The top of the fourth inning again saw the offense wake up, led off by a triple from Rhoden that was followed up by a single from McAtee to make it 8-0, and she would be plated on a single by Mancini two batters later. One more run scored when Mary Madison Kelley brought home Calarco on a single, and in the next at-bat, Allyson Christmas brought home Mancini on a single to center field after pinch-hitting for Armstrong.
The final damage for the Rangers came in the top of the fifth inning when Rhoden again led off with a triple and came home to score on the same play when an errant throw to third brought her across the plate to push the lead to 12-0.
Brown worked into the fifth inning, finishing with 4.2 innings for the win, which moved her to 7-7 on the season, and picked up seven strikeouts on the way to the win. She would be relieved by Sydney Hersom, who got the final out of the game as Northwest swept Mississippi Delta in convincing fashion.
"I was really working the umpire's zone, and he was giving a little more outside, and I was able to catch them off guard every once in a while, when he was the deciding factor," Brown said.
Northwest powered 18 hits in the game and took advantage of four errors by the Trojans, only striking out three times as a team offensively, while their defense worked around seven hits. They also turned a timely double play after a double to left-center field saw MDCC get greedy and run into an 8-2-5-4-6 double play to kill their momentum in the first inning.
UP NEXT –
The Rangers will host #4 Copiah-Lincoln Community College in a doubleheader on Thursday, which is a rescheduled game from over the weekend. Co-Lin leads the conference standings currently at 40-5 overall and 21-3 in MACCC play with just four games remaining. Game times are 2 and 4 P.M. on Thursday afternoon at the Ranger Softball Field.
Brown said they all know that with the defending national champions coming into town, it won't be an easy game to win, and they need to play their best in all facets.
"We need to hit the ball. Co-Lin is going to score runs, so we need to be able to outscore them, outhit them, and really capitalize on the mistakes."
Saturday will be the final regular-season game for the Rangers as they travel to #5 Pearl River Community College (38-6, 22-4) in a pair of games that will also have major implications on the standings, with Pearl River just two games ahead of the Rangers in the MACCC standings.
A sweep of all four games would put the Rangers into a position where they may be able to move up to third, and possibly second in the conference standings, depending on how games shake out across the MACCC on Saturday.
Keep up to date with Northwest news by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along on Ranger social media accounts.
