EMCC Lions conclude softball season by earning doubleheader split at Hinds

RAYMOND — East Mississippi Community College closed out its 2022 softball season by splitting a road doubleheader with Hinds during Friday's MACCC action played at Rene T. Warren Field. The Lions earned a 5-3 victory in the opening game before dropping a 9-1 nightcap decision to the Eagles.

In the opener, EMCC erased an early 1-0 deficit by batting through the lineup in the fifth inning to push across four runs. Celeste Study and Carley Martin contributed to the four-run frame with a bases-loaded walk and run-scoring single, respectively. Study added a sacrifice fly in the seventh for the Lions' final run of the opener.

The Eagles plated solo runs in the first, sixth and seventh innings.

EMCC's Maggie Meadows reached base safely in all four of her plate appearances in the opening game with two singles, a double and a walk in addition to scoring a pair of runs. Lauren Pickett added two singles for the visitors.

In the circle for the Lions, freshman right-hander Laken Firth picked up her seventh win of the season by going the distance with three strikeouts and only one walk while scattering seven hits.

The nightcap belonged to the home-standing Eagles after they jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with a pair of runs in each of the first two innings off EMCC starting pitcher Taylor Watkins.

EMCC's lone run in the second game came on Jenna Kirkland's RBI single following Raegan Pritchett's leadoff triple in the sixth inning.

After adding a solo run in the fifth, Hinds capped a four-run sixth inning on Jaelyn Bass' two-run, walk-off home run to earn the doubleheader split.

Pritchett led the Lions offensively in the nightcap by reaching base all three times with her triple plus a single and a walk.

Guided by first-year head coach Whitney Hawkins, the EMCC Lions finished their 2022 softball season with a 9-38 overall record and 5-23 conference mark.