EMCC gets softball doubleheader split at Northeast with nightcap shutout and pair of solo home runs
Solo home runs by Amandalyn Abney and Pepper Baker along with Valiree Blair's first collegiate shutout lifted East Mississippi Community College to a 5-0 nightcap victory and an MACJC North Division softball doubleheader split at Northeast Mississippi Community College Wednesday afternoon.
BOONEVILLE – Solo home runs by Amandalyn Abney and Pepper Baker along with Valiree Blair's first collegiate shutout lifted East Mississippi Community College to a 5-0 nightcap victory and an MACJC North Division softball doubleheader split at Northeast Mississippi Community College Wednesday afternoon. The home-standing Tigers claimed the opening game of the twinbill with a narrow 2-1 triumph over EMCC.
After coming up a run short in the opener, the Lady Lions took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning of game two. Following Abney's solo shot to left field – her second homer of the year – her sister, Heather, drove in EMCC's second run with a two-out single off Northeast starting pitcher Brittany Taylor.
As it turned out, that was all the run support EMCC's Blair would need on the afternoon. The freshman left-hander from Richland claimed her second win of the season by allowing just four hits over the seven innings with four strikeouts and three walks.
The visitors extended the winning margin with three additional scores in the final frame. Following Baker's first long ball of the season to lead off the inning, Anna McCrary's double and Kasey Stanfield's single produced the final runs of the contest.
Former prep teammates at New Hope High School, McCrary and Stanfield led EMCC's 10-hit team effort with two hits apiece in the nightcap.
Wednesday's opener featured a pitchers' duel between EMCC's Chandler Ellis and Northeast's Alyssa Vanlandingham. After matching one another through five scoreless innings, the Tigers tallied their two runs on back-to-back RBI singles by Yasmeen Cooper and Haley Christian in the bottom of the sixth.
The Lady Lions responded with a two-out rally in the top of the seventh to make things interesting. Baker began the comeback attempt with a single and a stolen base to get into scoring position. After she was brought home on Kristen Mitchell's single, Heather Abney reached on an error to put the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base. But, Vanlandingham got Emily Patrick to pop up to end the contest.
Ellis fell to 2-5 on the season in picking up the tough-luck loss for the visitors. The Vicksburg product allowed the game's first run on only five hits while pitching into the sixth inning.
Offensively for East Mississippi in the opening game, Mitchell and Baker led the way with two hits each.
Bidding to earn the program's seventh consecutive postseason appearance, head coach Kyndall White's EMCC Lady Lions are now 13-16 overall and 11-8 in MACJC North Division play. They will next travel to Moorhead for a Saturday road doubleheader against the Lady Trojans of Mississippi Delta Community College.