Run-rule win in opener and walk-off nightcap victory give EMCC Lions home softball sweep over Pearl River

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College successfully closed out its March home stand with a softball doubleheader sweep over Pearl River Community College in MACJC action Friday afternoon at the EMCC Softball Field.  Following an 11-3 run-rule win over PRCC in the opener, the Lions completed the sweep with a 6-5 walk-off victory in the nightcap.  

On their way to a 15-hit team effort in the opening game, the Lions scored three times on four singles along with the aid of a pair of PRCC infield miscues during the first inning.  After the visitors got two of those runs back on Mary Grace Key's two-run double off EMCC starting pitcher Madison Jacques in the second, the Lions came right back with four runs on five hits, highlighted by Blake Rigdon's two-run double, in the bottom of the third to a take a 7-2 lead.

Three walks by EMCC reliever Zoie LaVergne and an infield error gave Pearl River a run in the fourth.  But, the home team responded with two more scores in the bottom half of the frame to set up the game-clinching fifth inning.  After Sydney Olander and Emily Patrick opened the fifth with back-to-back singles, Clarkdale High School product Molly McLeod's two-out double to left-center brought home the pair of runs that gave the Lions the eight-run margin for the run-rule victory.

West Lauderdale's Mallory Vance and Marissa Landrum paced EMCC's 15-hit attack with three singles apiece during the opening game.  Patrick, McLeod and Amandalyn Abney all added two hits each.  LaVergne, now 4-1 in the circle this season, and Jacques combined to limit Pearl River to just two hits in the opener.

The Lady Wildcats got on the board first in the nightcap when Shay Rosser's bunt attempt with two runners on base in the second was thrown away at first base.  As the overthrow went into the right-field corner, the speedy outfielder was close on the heels of teammates Rachel Brockhaus and Alyssa Croncich around the bases to give Pearl River an early 3-0 lead.

An inning later, EMCC batted through the order off PRCC starting pitcher Amanda Ingram to produce five runs on four hits along with the help of two Pearl River infield errors.  The five-run rally was capped by Rachel Rooney's two-out, two-run double.

Benefitting from some flashy defensive work by the Lions during the middle innings, EMCC starting pitcher Valiree Blair settled down to toss four scoreless frames before getting into some seventh-inning difficulty.  Lead-off singles by Branda Northrop and Katie Perry set the table for Briana Leonard's game-tying, two-run double to the right-centerfield gap.

With the score tied at 5-5, EMCC promptly got something started in the home half of the seventh.  Rigdon, a local product from Macon's Central Academy, led off the frame with a single and was bunted over to second by Vance.  Olander, from Germantown High School, then smacked her walk-off RBI double to left field to win the nightcap and complete the sweep for the home-standing Lions.

Though being out-hit, 9-7, in the second game, the Lions got hits from six different players.  East Webster product Kendall Wilkinson had two singles to go along with the clutch RBI doubles from Rooney and Olander.

In the circle for the winners, Blair picked her third straight victory on the year with the complete-game win.  The Richland native scattered nine hits over seven innings while striking out two and walking just one.

Coach Kyndall White's EMCC softball squad, now 14-12 overall and 9-5 in conference play on the season, will conclude the month of March with a make-up doubleheader at Southwest Mississippi on Monday followed by Wednesday's 1 p.m. twin-bill at Northeast Mississippi.