Walk-off comeback win highlights EMCC’s home softball sweep over Coahoma

SCOOBA – Ignited by a furious seventh-inning comeback in the opener, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College claimed their fourth MACCC softball doubleheader sweep of the season with 8-7 and 12-1 home wins over Coahoma during Wednesday's conference action played at the EMCC Softball Field.

After scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to overcome a 7-4 deficit in the opening game, the Lions completed the sweep over the Tigers by scoring in every inning of their run-rule nightcap victory.

In search of its first conference win of the season, Coahoma scored in all but one inning during the opener with a pair of runs in the first, a solo tally in the second plus single scores in each of the last four frames. The Tigers enjoyed a 5-0 lead before EMCC first got on the board with three runs in the fifth inning.

After managing just two singles and a walk off CCC starting pitcher Kaela Pangman through the first four innings, EMCC's bats started to come alive in the fifth frame. A leadoff single by Carys Goodwin was followed by consecutive run-scoring doubles from Layla Roper and Madalyn Dvorak to begin the comeback.

Goodwin also came up big in the circle for the Lions in relief of EMCC starter Celeste Study, who tossed the opening four innings. As the Tigers were attempting to add to their lead late in the game, Goodwin was able to minimize the damage by limiting the visitors to solo runs during each of the final two innings while working out of bases-loaded jams. The Corinth product would go on to collect the victory and improve to 4-2 on the season.

Down by three runs entering their final at-bat, the Lions opened the seventh by reaching base on three straight grounders hit back to Pangman in the pitching circle to load the bases. Following Study's two-run single, Devyn DeBardelaben, who hit her team-leading third homer of the year while leading off the previous inning, smacked an opposite-field triple that brought home the tying and game-winning runs.

Sidney Argo, a transfer from Shelton State, paced EMCC's 11-hit team effort in the opener with her first three singles during a six-hit afternoon for the Kentucky native. DeBardelaben, also a transfer from Shelton State, knocked in three runs in the game with her solo homer and the walk-off, two-run triple during consecutive innings.

The Lions used the momentum gained by the opening game's thrilling comeback to break open an early 1-1 tie in the nightcap by pushing across six runs while batting through the order in the second inning. EMCC added a solo tally in the third and then plated four more runs a frame later to record the run-rule victory and complete the team's fourth sweep in six conference twin-bills this season.

Argo, with three more singles in the second game, and Lana Atkins, who singled, tripled and doubled in successive innings, led EMCC's nine-hit nightcap outing with three hits apiece.    

EMCC sophomore pitcher Laken Firth was dominant in the circle by allowing just one run and striking out seven of the 14 batters she faced over four innings to register her sixth victory of the season. 

Head coach Mackenzie Byrd's EMCC Lions (11-21, 8-4 MACCC) will continue their current week-long home stand by playing host to the Bulldogs of Mississippi Gulf Coast on Saturday (April 1). First pitch for the EMCC-MGCCC softball doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. on the Scooba campus.