EMCC drops MACJC conference-opening softball DH at third-ranked Jones

ELLISVILLE – East Mississippi Community College pitchers surrendered 10 home runs to third-ranked Jones College in dropping a 14-6, 15-4 softball doubleheader on the road during Friday's MACJC conference-opening action played at Community Bank Park.

After the Lady Lions grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the opening game on Mackenzie Dolan's first-inning RBI single, the Lady Bobcats answered in the home half of the frame with homers by Kristian Edwards, Lauren Pope and Meagan Wynne off EMCC starting pitcher Britney Bonney to move ahead 6-1.  Jones came back the next inning to put up four more runs, capped by LP Trammell's three-run blast, to take a 10-1 lead after two innings.

EMCC battled back to make it a 10-6 ballgame by scoring a pair of runs in the third and three more a frame later to cut into Jones' lead.  On the heels of Madelyn Wilkes' two-run homer – her second of the season – in the third inning, the Lady Lions kept chipping away at the deficit with three runs in the fourth on Lily Ramsey's run-scoring single and Dolan's two-run double.

The Lady Bobcats responded by reaching the run-rule margin with four additional runs in the fifth inning, including a pinch-hit solo shot by Raylen Blackwell.   

Dolan, an All-MACJC performer for EMCC a year ago, accounted for half of the team's six hits in the opening game by going 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs batted in.

Jones again got on the scoreboard early and often in the nightcap by reaching EMCC starting pitcher KeraGrace Watts for multiple runs during all four team at-bats.  Following solo homers in a three-run first inning by Edwards and Trammell, the Lady Bobcats batted around during a five-run second frame to take an early 8-0 lead.

After EMCC pushed across an unearned run in the third on Watts' RBI bloop single, Jones answered in the bottom half of the frame with Kayla Collins' two-run homer to extend the lead to 10-1.

The Lady Lions temporarily got back into the contest with Jenna Coker's three-run blast – her second of the year – in the fourth inning.  Jones' bats continued to thump, however, as Wynne's three-run homer and a two-run shot by Tyesha Cole accounted for a five-run home half of the fourth and capped the Lady Bobcats' 29-run offensive performance during the run-rule doubleheader sweep.

Watts had two of EMCC's five total hits in the nightcap.

Coach Austin McNair's EMCC Lady Lions (4-8, 0-2) step out of conference action next weekend (March 14-15) by playing road doubleheaders against Shelton State in Tuscaloosa on Saturday and at Coastal Alabama-North on Sunday in Monroeville.