EMCC Lady Lions fall at Pearl River, 9-1 and 7-6, in Friday afternoon softball action

POPLARVILLE – The Lady Lions of East Mississippi Community College battled to the final pitch of Friday's softball nightcap at Pearl River Community College but came up a run short to ultimately drop a road doubleheader, 9-1 and 7-6, against the Lady Wildcats.

In the second contest, the visitors fought back from an early 3-1 deficit to take a brief 4-3 lead with a three-run fourth inning.  Following Misty Richard's second double of the game and Charly Boswell reaching base via a hit by pitch, Haley Tutor stroked a two-out, two-run double to center field.  A subsequent EMCC run scored when Halie Green's grounder was misplayed at third base.

After the Lady Wildcats tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth, they went back ahead 6-4 with a pair of runs in the fifth inning.  The Lady Lions answered right back with two runs of their own in the sixth.  A lead-off single by Corey Dawkins and an infield out preceded Abby Roberts' run-scoring single.  With her third extra-base hit of the game, Richard tripled in Roberts with two outs to knot the score at 6-6 heading to the final frame.

EMCC managed to load the bases in the top of the seventh, but Roberts grounded out to short to end the rally.  Pearl River then pushed across the winning run in the bottom half with a two-out rally.  After Green, EMCC's game two starter, picked up the first two outs, Allie Flint, PRCC's nine-hole hitter, doubled to center field.  Battling through a seven-pitch at-bat, Whitney Waits then singled home Flint for the game-winning run.

Offensively in the nightcap, EMCC banged out 11 hits, highlighted by Richard's trio of extra-base hits and Angel Johnson's 2-for-3 effort.

In the circle, Green was the tough-luck loser for EMCC, scattering 11 hits over seven innings to drop to 2-3 on the year.

The Lady Lions got off to a good start on the afternoon with a lead-off double in the first from Tutor, who later scored on Jade Albritton's two-out double.

Following two scoreless innings, EMCC starting pitcher Amelia LaVergne ran into some third-inning trouble by surrendering three runs on four hits.  The Lady Wildcats added four runs in the fourth, highlighted by Emily Jackson's two-run homer off Kendra Wilson.  Wilson then ran into control problems the next inning when three walks and a hit batsman would help contribute to PRCC's final two runs and thus ending the opener via the eight-run rule.

After their pair of doubles in the opening frame, the Lady Lions could only manage a second-inning single by Amber Spann and a single by Dawkins in the third during the abbreviated five-inning opener.

Coach Kyndall White's 4-8 EMCC Lady Lions will look to snap their six-game losing skid by playing host to Southwest Mississippi Community College Monday on the Scooba campus.  Doubleheader softball action is set to commence at 3 p.m. at the EMCC Softball Field.