March 27, 2018
All eyes are on the yellow softball as ECCC freshman infielder Macy Brabham of Brookhaven bats in the first inning against Southwest. (EC Photo)
It wasn’t easy, but the No. 9 ranked East Central Community College Lady Warriors extended their softball winning streak to eight with a sweep of the visiting Southwest Mississippi Community College Lady Bears Monday, March 26, at the Softball Park in Decatur.
East Central had to come from behind in both games. The Lady Warriors won the opener 3-2 in walk-off fashion, and scored nine runs in the final three innings for a 9-1 run-rule win in the second game.
The Lady Warriors are now 22-6 overall on the season and 9-5 in MACJC play, while the Southwest Lady Bears are 11-15 overall and 4-12 in league play.
In the dramatic game one win, the contest went into extra innings tied 1-1. Southwest grabbed the lead in the top of the eighth with a home run to left field from Kayla McNabb.
Trailing 2-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth, Madalyn McMahon of Neshoba Central led off with a double for the Lady Warriors. A single by Kayla Beckham, also out of Neshoba Central, sent McMahon to third base, before a sacrifice fly from Cassie Obman of Caledonia brought McMahon home with the tying run. Ali Gartman of Loyd Star then hit a hard grounder to the shortstop and the throw to first was off the mark bringing Beckham home from second base for the 3-2 win.
Eva Scott (Burleson, Texas, Centennial) and Beckham each had two hits for East Central in game one.
Kaitlyn Oswalt of Heritage Academy in Columbus got the win in the circle. She gave up nine hits over the eight innings and struck out eight batters.
In the second game, East Central went to the bottom of the fourth trailing 1-0 before Mackenzie Johnson out of Nanih Waiya hit an inside-the-park homer off the top of the center field wall to bring in two runs, including what would be the game-winner. Tagen Remmel, who prepped at Clinton High School, doubled in the Lady Warriors’ first run of the inning.
Leading 3-1 heading to the bottom of the sixth, East Central scored six runs to end the game by run-rule. The inning opened with singles by Johnson and Shelby Walters of Northwest Rankin sandwiched around and a walk. McMahon then walked bringing in a run. A Beckham double brought in two more runs, before RBI singles by Alyssa Pendergrass of Columbia and Scott made the score 8-1 with no outs. Following a strikeout, Katherine Shell of Brookhaven singled in Pendergrass with the ninth and winning run.
Johnson had three hits for the Lady Warriors in the nightcap, while Beckham and Scott had a pair of hits each. Beckham and Johnson had two RBI each.
Mackenzie Rousseau (Houma, La., Vanderbilt Catholic) picked up the win in the circle, giving up just four hits and no earned runs, while striking out three batters.
East Central will hit the road Thursday, March 29, to face Holmes Community College. That MACJC doubleheader action begins at 3 p.m. in Goodman.
The Lady Warriors will return home the following week for two MACJC doubleheaders. East Central hosts Copiah-Lincoln Community College on Wednesday, April 4, at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. and then Northeast Mississippi Community College will visit the Softball Park in Decatur on Saturday, April 7, for games at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Most home softball games can be heard on WKOZ Cruisin 98.3 or via audio stream and live stream video at www.eccc.edu/eccc-media.
Lady Warrior pitcher Kaitlyn Oswalt of Columbus pitches in the first game win over Southwest. (EC Photo)
