BOONEVILLE – The #17 Northwest Mississippi Community College softball team split their road series with #20 Northeast Mississippi Community College, dropping a tightly contested opening game to the Tigers 4-2 before running out to a big lead on the way to a 7-5 win in game two on Tuesday night at The Plex.
GAME 1 - #17 NWCC 2 Northeast Mississippi 4
The opening game saw Northwest get off and running early after a lead off infield single by Ava Claire Rhoden set up an RBI single from Carleigh Calarco with two outs to bring home the opening run of the game and give the Rangers the early edge.
They would build on that in the third inning when several miscues on the field by the Tigers would set up the Rangers with Emma Jennings on third and Rhoden on second with no one out. Handley McAtee would ground out to shortstop in the next at-bat to score a second run, but Rhoden would be left at third to end the inning with Northwest settling for a 2-0 lead.
That lead would hold through to the bottom of the fifth inning when the Tigers got on a roll.
With a runner on third and two outs, Bailey Houston singled to bring home their first run to cut the lead to 2-1 and in the next at bat, Chloe Skelton would send a home run over the center field wall to give Northeast their first lead of the game at 3-2. A pair of walks would set up another RBI single to pad the lead and Northeast entered the final two frames down 4-2.
The Rangers would threaten themselves in both of the next two innings, getting the lead off runner on both times, but the sixth would end on a 5-3 double play and the seventh saw a pair of hard-hit balls to third turn into routine outs for the Tigers as the Rangers saw their five-game conference win streak snapped with the 4-2 loss.
Head Coach Chelsea Bramlett said not staying dialed in for the full game is what cost them in the fifth inning of the loss.
"We have some work to do. We are not really staying focused like I would like for us to throughout the entire game, but it is good to come out with a split. There were some good things, but we need to focus in a little more," she said.
GAME 2 - #17 NWCC 7 #20 Northeast Mississippi 5
For the second straight game, the Rangers took advantage of another lead-off infield single by Rhoden to strike first when McAtee drove a double to left center field to score the opening run of the game and put NWCC in front 1-0.
With Meredith Dearman getting the start in game two, the Tigers were held off of the scoreboard in the early innings as the game started to have a similar pitcher's duel feel going into the fourth inning as both offenses struggled to get traction in the 1-0 contest.
The Rangers struck again in the top of the fourth inning when Lillianna Cates opened with a single to left field and was followed by a walk to Calarco. Sela Mancini would bunt the runners into scoring position, and both came home on an RBI single from Mary Madison Kelley and a ground out by Londen Armstrong to push the Ranger edge up to 3-0.
More offense came in the top of the fifth inning when Rhoden, who finished the day 4-7 between the two games with three runs scored, would single with one out which opened up a stretch of four straight Rangers reaching base.
An RBI double from McAtee scored Rhoden, and after a single from Cates, Calarco reached on a throwing error by the Tigers which would score McAtee to increase the lead to 5-0. A wild pitch brought home Cates and one more run would score when Londen Armstrong brought home Kelley with a single to left field.
"We finally got to the pitcher," Cates said. "And we were finally starting to string our hits together. It wasn't just one here and there. We were all hitting together as a team."
Northeast got a run back in the bottom of the fifth when back-to-back doubles brought home a two-out run to make it 7-2, but Dearman snuffed out the rally with a fly out to left field and the Rangers took the five-run lead all the way to the seventh inning.
Things did get a little hairy for Northwest in the final frame when the Tigers loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning after they had already closed the gap to 7-3 on a sacrifice fly. A hard hit double to left field cleared the bases to make it 7-5 and bring the tying run to the plate.
A walk to a pinch hitter on a full count took the bat out of a dangerous hitters hands, and Dearman induced a ground ball to third to end the frame and the game with the Rangers taking the 7-5 win.
"It felt good to bounce back because we are a good team and we had our flub, but it was nice to be able to come back and work for each other," Cates said after the split of the double-header. "It's never something you want, but our conference is really good, and it is a bright side to be able to split, especially after a first game loss to be able to come back and win the second one."
Dearman picked up the win in the game for her 15th of the year, scattering eight highs and four walks while the Rangers offense was very efficient with their play, turning eight hits and two walks into seven runs, taking advantage of a Tiger error along the way.
UP NEXT –
The Ranger will face off against their third consecutive ranked opponent when they travel to #19 Hinds Community College on Saturday afternoon in Raymond at Rene Warren Field. Game times are set for 2 and 4 P.M. with streaming information available at nwccrangers.com.
Keep up with the Northwest softball team's new and schedule by following along on Ranger social media accounts.
