EMCC’s Lady Lions knock off Delta twice for second straight MACJC softball sweep

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College earned a second straight MACJC softball doubleheader sweep with 12-4 and 5-3 home victories over Mississippi Delta Wednesday afternoon at the EMCC Softball Field.

Coming off last week's pair of victories (7-6 & 9-4) at Pearl River, EMCC's Lady Lions improved their conference record to 12-8 with their fifth MACJC softball sweep of the season.

Efficiently producing a dozen runs on 12 hits in the opener, EMCC grabbed an early 3-0 lead in the first inning with three runs on three singles off Delta starting pitcher Makenna Morgan.

That trend continued for the Lady Lions as they went through the batting order during the third and fourth innings en route to generating five and four more runs, respectively, on as many hits each frame.  Kiera Phillips' two-run triple highlighted EMCC's five-run third inning, while a two-out, two-run single by Kelsey English capped the four-run fourth.

After being limited to just one hit through the first three innings by EMCC starting pitcher AG Stewart, the Lady Trojans reached the sophomore right-hander for two runs in the fourth and fifth innings.  Rebekah Garner's run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly by Morgan in the fourth were followed a frame later by Shelbi Smith's RBI double and a sacrifice fly by Myah Wright.

Despite getting just four team at-bats during the run-rule opener, the Lady Lions evenly distributed their 12 total hits.  Five different players had two hits apiece, while four players each drove in a pair of runs for the winners.

In the circle for EMCC, Stewart, a product of Pisgah High School, scattered seven hits over the five innings with two strikeouts and no walks to notch her first of two wins on the afternoon.

The nightcap was tightly contested throughout the game.  The teams initially traded solo runs in the first inning, as Garner's run-producing single was answered by Mollie Singleterry's RBI triple.

Two frames later, EMCC and Delta again traded scoring turns.  After control problems by Lady Lion starting pitcher Carly Thompson enabled Wright to score on three wild pitches after getting hit by a pitch, EMCC took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third on consecutive run-scoring hits by Ashley Vickers and Singleterry.

The visitors then knotted the game at 3-3 in the fourth inning when Wright's two-out RBI double plated an unearned run off Stewart, who had replaced Thompson in the circle the previous inning.

The Lady Lions responded by getting their first five batters on base during a two-run sixth inning that decided the close contest.  Singleterry's leadoff double off Delta starting pitcher Morgan Morrison got things started, while Avery Bouchillon's two-run single with the bases loaded drove home the go-ahead runs.

Singleterry, a freshman out of Wayne County High School, led EMCC's eight-hit team effort in the nightcap with a single, double and triple in three trips to the plate.  English added two more hits to go along with the pair of hits she had in the opening game.

Having faced the minimum over the final three innings in the circle, Stewart improved to 9-7 on the year after only allowing the one unearned run on just two hits in 4.1 innings of relief work during the second game.     

Coach Kyndall White's 16-19 EMCC Lady Lions are scheduled to close out their regular-season home softball slate by playing host to the Meridian Lady Eagles during a Saturday doubleheader on the Scooba campus.  Weather permitting, the noon first pitch will be preceded by a pregame recognition of EMCC's six softball sophomores beginning around 11:40 a.m.