SPARTANBURG, SC – After getting off to a blistering start, the 13-seed Northwest Mississippi Community College softball team dropped a heartbreaking game to the eighth-seeded Pima Community College after a furious rally from the Aztecs gave them the 9-7 come-from-behind win to eliminate the Rangers from the 2026 NJCAA Division II Softball World Series at Tyger River Park.
The game couldn't have gotten off to a better start for Northwest after they picked up an RBI double from Handley McAtee just two batters into the game, scoring Ava Claire Rhoden to make it 1-0. Another two runs would score on an Emma Jennings single up the middle that plated Sela Mancini and Lillianna Cates for a 3-0 lead after just one inning.
In the second, Northwest padded the lead with another pair of hits, one from Mancini to score Rhoden and Aubrey Massing, and another from Jennings to score Mancini as the lead grew to 6-0.
With the dominant pitching from Meredith Dearman to that point in the tournament, it seemed like that would be enough to seal a win, and that was the case through three innings as the freshman from Enterprise, Mississippi, worked through those frames with only one hit and three baserunners from Pima against her.
The game changed in the bottom of the fourth inning when the Aztecs came roaring to life, loading the bases with just one out and scoring their opening run on a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 6-1.
Two more runs followed on a single up the middle, and one more run would score on the fourth hit of the inning before Dearman would be replaced by Catelyn Brown with the Rangers still in front 6-4.
More offense would come for Pima in the bottom of the fifth inning when a one-out triple sparked a five-run inning that would chase Brown from the game and bring Dearman back out to pitch the remaining inning and a third for Northwest.
By then, the damage was done though, despite a single run in the top of the sixth from Cates that would close the gap to 9-7. That was one of only three hits that the Rangers would manage after the first two innings, as the offense couldn't keep up the early momentum.
The loss ended the Rangers' run through the World Series bracket for the second year in a row with a 2-2 record, with both years ending with a loss to Pima.
Brown ended up taking the loss after giving up five runs in one inning of work. Dearman ended the day with six innings pitched, giving up four runs and striking out five.
Northwest finished the season at 29-21 and wraps up the year with their first back-to-back trips to the World Series in program history behind a sophomore group that finishes their careers with the best two-year record in program history, going 73-33.
Keep up with offseason news and happenings from the Rangers by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along with Northwest's social media accounts.
