East Mississippi falls in home softball doubleheader to top-ranked Jones County

SCOOBA – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College fell, 8-0 and 13-5, to top-ranked Jones County Junior College during an MACJC softball doubleheader Thursday afternoon at the EMCC Softball Field. 

The visiting Lady Bobcats hit the field with a purpose after having their season-opening, 29-game winning streak snapped earlier in the week at rival Mississippi Gulf Coast.  In addition to hitting three home runs in each contest, JCJC also received a no-hit performance from pitching ace Karli Perque in the opening game.

Perque, from Westwego, Louisiana, allowed only two base runners in the opener with EMCC's Kendall Wilkinson drawing a leadoff walk in the second and Averi Pender reaching on an infield error two frames later.  JCJC's freshman right-hander struck out eight in five innings to improve to 11-0 on the year.

Jones County banged out 10 hits in the opener off EMCC pitchers Carly Thompson and Madison Jacques, including home runs by Kelly Byrd in consecutive at-bats during back-to-back innings.  Teammate Brittany Baty hit her first of two homers on the day with a solo shot in the fourth.

The Lions bounced back to take an early 2-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap.  West Lauderdale High School product Mallory Vance lined a leadoff double down the left-field line off JCJC starting pitcher Madison Burge and was brought home two batters later on Pender's third home run of the year and seventh of her EMCC career.       

The lead was short-lived, however, as Autumn Frost and Baty smacked back-to-back homers for the Lady Bobcats in the second inning off EMCC starting pitcher Ciara Steward to take a 3-2 lead.

Jones County then stretched the margin to 13-2 with four runs in the third and fourth innings plus two more in the fifth, before the Lions could get on the scoreboard again.  Key hits for the visitors during that stretch were Taylor Murray's bases-clearing double in the third, a two-run double by Callie Venable an inning later, and Bailey Gilbert's pinch-hit home run in the fifth.

With Burge having re-entered the game in the fifth, Wilkinson's RBI double was followed by Kaitlyn Brannon's run-scoring single and a run-producing ground out from Danielle Darmohray.

After being shut out in the opener, the Lions did produce eight hits in the nightcap.  Sophomores Vance, Pender and Brannon each had two hits.

Coach Kyndall White's EMCC Lions, 13-16 overall and 10-4 in conference play, travel to Poplarville to take on Pearl River Community College in a 2 p.m. Saturday doubleheader.