Britney Bonney’s three-hit shutout secures EMCC’s home softball DH split with Holmes

SCOOBA – Freshman Britney Bonney's three-hit shutout in the opening game helped secure East Mississippi Community College's home MACJC softball doubleheader split with Holmes Community College during Wednesday's conference action played at the EMCC Softball Field.  Following EMCC's 6-0 victory in the opener, the visiting Lady Bulldogs salvaged the split with a 6-2 nightcap win.

In the opening contest, the Lady Lions provided all of the run support Bonney would need with three runs in the bottom of the first inning on back-to-back, run-producing doubles by Mackenzie Dolan and Madelyn Wilkes off Holmes starting pitcher Mary Clayton Burrell.

While Bonney was limiting the Lady Bulldogs to solo hits in the second, third and fifth innings, EMCC tacked on a run in the third and then added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth to account for the final margin.

Holmes' best scoring opportunity in the opener came in the third inning when leadoff batter Lexie Bounds was hit by a pitch and Skyler Busbea later doubled to put both runners in scoring position.  Bonney pitched out of the one-out jam by getting a strikeout and a fly out to right field.          

At the plate, EMCC's 11-hit team effort in the first game was paced by Avery Bouchillon's 3-for-3 outing, including a leadoff double in the fifth.  Dolan was 2-for-3 with three RBIs on her two-run double in the first and a sacrifice fly in the sixth.  Megan Cummins added a double and a single in four trips to the plate.

In tossing her second complete-game shutout in her last three pitching appearances, Bonney struck out two and walked two over seven innings to pick up her second win of the season.

Including her two-hit, five-inning shutout win (11-0) over Coahoma (March 26) and a tough-luck, complete-game 1-0 loss at Mississippi Gulf Coast (March 29), Bonney has allowed just nine total hits and only one run over her last 18.1 innings of work in the circle.

The Lady Lions got on the scoreboard first in the nightcap as well when Dolan drove home Bonney in the first inning with her third double of the day.  Holmes knotted the score at 1-1 on Busbea's run-scoring single in the third inning off EMCC's Wilkes.

The turning point of the second game came in the fifth inning when five Holmes hits along with five EMCC errors brought home four runs.  The Lady Bulldogs then added a solo tally a frame later to give the visitors a 6-1 lead.

EMCC did manage to get one of the runs back in the bottom of the sixth off Holmes starting pitcher Brooklyne Eubanks when Bonney led off with a double and later came around to score on Dolan's ground out for her fifth RBI of the twin bill.

Bonney, out of Madison Central High School, completed her 3-for-6 doubleheader effort at the plate by going 2-for-3 and scoring both EMCC runs in the nightcap.

Coach Austin McNair's EMCC Lady Lions, 3-14 overall and 3-9 in MACJC contests, stay at home to welcome the Hinds Lady Eagles for a Saturday softball doubleheader scheduled for a 4 p.m. start on the Scooba campus.