Late leads dissipate as East Mississippi drops softball doubleheader at Shelton State

TUSCALOOSA – The East Mississippi Community College softball team let a couple of late leads slip away in dropping a 5-4, 8-6 road doubleheader to Shelton State Community College Saturday afternoon.

In the opener, the Lions grabbed the early lead with three runs in the third inning to stake starting pitcher Ciara Steward to a 3-0 lead.  Taking advantage of a pair of SSCC infield errors, EMCC freshman Averi Pender stroked a two-run single to the opposite field to highlight the inning.  But, the visitors left the bases loaded, as they would the following frame as well.

  After facing the minimum 12 batters through the first four frames, Steward ran into some fifth-inning difficulty.  A one-out walk and an infield throwing error opened the door for subsequent run-producing, extra-base hits by SSCC's Haley Britt, Kalee Sparks and Jasmine Thompson.  A sacrifice fly added to the mix put the Lady Bucs on top, 4-3, after five innings.

The Lions evened the score the following inning, as freshman Mallory Vance led off the frame with her third hit of the contest.  After being bunted to second by Heather Abney, Vance came around to score on Pender's two-out, opposite-field double for her third RBI of the game.

Sophomore right-hander Chandler Ellis came into relieve Steward in the sixth and fell into some early trouble by walking the first two batters she faced.   With the bases full, the Vicksburg product came through by getting Britt to hit into an inning-ending double play to keep the score tied.

After EMCC failed to score in the top of the seventh, the Lady Bucs again loaded the bases off Ellis and reliever Zoie LaVergne.  With no room on the bases, Morgan Burbage's fly ball to center field was misplayed and the winning run scampered home for Shelton State.

In the nightcap, SSCC took the initial lead with a solo tally in the first inning.  An inning after EMCC sophomore Marissa Landrum smacked her first collegiate home run to knot the score at 1-1, the Lions batted through the order in the third to take a 5-1 lead.  With the bases loaded, Emily Patrick singled in a run and Breanna Glass followed by bringing home another run after getting hit by a pitch.  The visitors added two more runs when Kaitlyn Brannon's grounder was mishandled in the infield.

With EMCC still owning a solid 6-2 late in the contest, starting pitcher Madison Jacques ran into some sixth-inning trouble.  Inheriting two runners on base with no outs and greeted with an infield error on the first hitter she faced in relief, sophomore left-hander Valiree Blair couldn't stop the Shelton State rally.  Batting through the order, the Lady Bucs went on to plate six runs on four singles and two walks to account for the 8-6 final margin.

With eight hits as a team in the nightcap after seven in the opener, the Lions were led by Patrick and Landrum with two hits apiece in the second game.

Coach Kyndall White's 5-7 East Mississippi Lions will begin conference play Tuesday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Mississippi Delta followed by a Friday 3 p.m. twin-bill at preseason seventh-ranked Jones County.