EMCC Lions swept at home by No. 8 East Central in MACJC softball action

SCOOBA – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College couldn't solve East Central Community College's pitching tandem in dropping a home conference doubleheader, 8-3 and 9-1, to the eighth-ranked Warriors Friday afternoon at the EMCC Softball Field.

The visitors set the tone for the day by batting around and scoring five times in the opening frame off EMCC starting pitcher Ciara Steward.  The initial inning included two-run singles by Katherine Shell and Latesia Davis.

Though EMCC reliever Jordan Self came in to shut out the Warriors over the next four innings, the Lions were only able to manage solo scores in the first, fourth and seventh innings off East Central's Kaitlyn Oswalt.  EMCC got as close as 5-2 when Kaitlyn Brannon doubled and was brought home on Danielle Darmohray's RBI single.  The Lions' first run came on reigning MACJC Player of the Week Averi Pender's run-scoring double in the first.

East Central nailed down the opening victory late in the game on RBI singles by Cassie Obman and Shelby Walters in the sixth followed by Madalyn McMahon's solo homer in the final frame.  An RBI single by EMCC's Treasure Lynch in the bottom of the seventh rounded out the game's scoring in the opener.

The Lions divided their 10 hits between eight different players with Darmohray and Sydney Olander each contributing a single and a double.  East Central's 12-hit team effort was highlighted by Brittney McCray's 4-for-5 showing at the plate, including a pair of doubles.

The run-rule nightcap belonged to the Warriors from the first inning as well.  Following a two-run opening frame on RBI singles from Obman and Mackenzie Johnson off EMCC starting pitcher Carly Thompson, East Central broke open the contest by batting around in the third with the aid of three Lion miscues in the field.  McMahon's two-run double was the key hit in the visitors' six-run inning.  

In the circle for East Central in the nightcap, freshman Mackenzie Rousseau limited the Lions to just one run on five hits while striking out three in the complete-game victory.  EMCC's lone run of the game came on a third-inning RBI single by Olander, who finished the afternoon 4-for-7 at the plate.

Obman paced the Warriors' 11-hit team outing in the second game with three hits in as many at-bats, including a run-producing double in the third.  After four hits in the opener, McCray capped her afternoon with a solo home run in the fourth inning.

Coach Kyndall White's 17-22 EMCC Lions, 14-10 within the conference, take on Northwest Mississippi in a Wednesday road doubleheader at Senatobia.  East Mississippi will then close out its regular-season softball slate by playing host to seventh-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast in a 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon twin bill on the Scooba campus.