Comeback win highlights EMCC’s home softball sweep over Mississippi Delta

SCOOBA — An extra-inning comeback win from a 7-1 deficit highlighted East Mississippi Community College's home softball sweep over Mississippi Delta during Thursday's MACCC action played at the EMCC Softball Field.  After walking off with an 8-7 come-from-behind win in the opener, the Lady Lions completed their second conference sweep of the month with a 6-4 nightcap victory over the Lady Trojans.

Delta established early control of the opening contest when McKinley Newcomer belted a two-out, two-run homer off EMCC starting pitcher Rylee Bourland in the first inning.

After the Lady Lions got a run back in the bottom of the first on Allison Brown's sacrifice fly, the Lady Trojans promptly added to their lead with five more runs over the next three innings.  Madisen Rainey's two-run double highlighted Delta's three-run second inning, while a solo run in the third and Macey Hill's leadoff homer an inning later extended the visitors' lead to 7-1.

EMCC began chipping away at the deficit by scoring single runs in the fourth and sixth innings on Kaitlynn Stroud's sacrifice fly and her subsequent RBI double.

Aided by some Delta miscues in the field, the Lady Lions continued their comeback by having their first five hitters all reach base safely to open the bottom of the seventh inning.  Kick-started by Carrie Grace Baty's leadoff single, the highlight of the four-run inning was Kamryn Moore's two-run double.  Two batters later, Hope Thames brought home the tying run when her groundout to first base plated Brown.

Following Bourland's fourth consecutive shutout inning in the circle for EMCC in the top of the eighth, she got things started offensively in the home half of the extra frame with a one-out single.  Baty walked after pinch-runner Katelyn Humphreys stole second base.  Lily Ramsey then capped a 4-for-5 outing at the plate with her RBI single that scored Humphreys with the winning run to complete the dramatic come-from-behind victory.

In the nightcap, the Lady Lions answered MDCC's first-inning solo run by scoring in four consecutive frames.  After Bourland's RBI double in the second inning tied the game, EMCC extended its lead to 4-1 with another solo score in the third followed by a pair of runs a frame later on Aislynn Cochran's squeeze bunt and a two-out, run-scoring single by Tommesha Brown.

The Lady Trojans then showed some comeback ability of their own by knotting the score on one swing of the bat in the top of the fifth inning.  After Anna Carlisle and Rainey reached base on a hit batsman and infield error, respectively, to begin the inning, Lexie James tied the game at 4-4 with a three-run homer off EMCC starting pitcher Jenna Coker.

The Lady Lions promptly answered by scoring a pair of go-ahead runs in the bottom of the fifth to reclaim the lead for good.  Singles in the inning by Ramsey, Moore and Allison Brown contributed to their respective two-hit outings in the nightcap.

Meanwhile in the circle for EMCC, Coker settled down following the game-tying home run in the fifth to retire Delta's last nine batters in order over the game's final three innings to record her second win of the season.  The Grenada product scattered three hits, while striking out five and walking just one, during her complete-game outing.

Coach Austin McNair's EMCC Lady Lions, 7-23 overall and 7-17 in conference play, are scheduled to play doubleheaders at eighth-ranked Jones College on Sunday (April 18) and the following Saturday (April 24) by playing host to Hinds in the regular-season finale.  Following pre-game sophomore day activities, the EMCC-Hinds softball twin bill is slated for a 1 p.m. start on the Scooba campus.