EMCC Lady Lions swept at home by Northwest Mississippi in MACJC North Division softball opener

SCOOBA – A long-awaited home appearance couldn't change East Mississippi Community College's softball fortunes Saturday afternoon, as the Lady Lions dropped their MACJC North Division-opening doubleheader, 8-2 and 10-2, to Northwest Mississippi Community College at the EMCC Softball Field.

Having not played on campus since the team's season-opening doubleheader sweep (12-4 & 7-6) over rival East Central Community College back on Feb. 10, EMCC lost eight straight decisions away from Scooba.  After scoring 19 combined runs in their pair of home wins over ECCC nearly three weeks ago, the Lady Lions had since managed to tally just 13 total runs in their eight road outings that followed.

East Mississippi's offensive slump continued Saturday, as Northwest pitching limited the Lady Lions to just four hits in each contest.  Eight walks issued by EMCC pitchers in the first game and five defensive errors in the nightcap didn't help their cause either.

The Rangers jumped out to early leads in both games.  In the opener, the visitors plated an unearned run in the first inning and followed a frame later with a Carla Avant solo home run off EMCC starting pitcher Chandler Ellis.  In the fourth inning, a two-out walk was followed by three successive singles to give Northwest a 4-0 lead.

With just one hit through the first four innings off winning pitcher Kiley Dunagan, the Lady Lions managed to push across solo runs in the fifth and sixth innings on a Kristen Mitchell sacrifice fly and a two-out, run-scoring single by Molly McLeod, respectively.  NWCC completed the game's scoring with a solo tally in the sixth followed by three more unearned runs in the final frame.

In the nightcap, the Rangers took advantage of base-running opportunities coupled with additional fielding miscues by the home team to mount an early 7-0 lead through the first two innings.  Seven Northwest stolen bases and three EMCC fielding errors contributed to four runs in the first and three more scores in the second by the visitors.

After NWCC lengthened the lead to 9-0 with two more runs in the fourth off EMCC starting pitcher Valiree Blair, the Lady Lions reached winning pitcher Jessica Holliday for an unearned run in the fourth and added another tally a frame later to extend the eventual run-ruled contest to a sixth and decisive inning.

EMCC's pair of runs in the nightcap came on Miranda Crenshaw's two-out, RBI single in the fourth and Mitchell's run-producing hit that plated Blake Rigdon, who courtesy ran following Emily Patrick's double to lead off the fifth.

Coach Kyndall White's 2-10 East Mississippi Lions will look to snap their 10-game losing skid during a scheduled Tuesday division doubleheader at Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale.  EMCC is then slated to take on Holmes CC Friday afternoon in Goodman.