March 22, 2018

In a battle of NJCAA Top 10 softball teams, the No. 9 ranked East Central Community College Lady Warriors came up with a big road sweep of No. 7 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Wednesday, March 21, in Biloxi.

East Central scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning and held on for a 7-5 win in game one. The Lady Warriors took game two 8-0 in five innings behind timely hitting and the pitching of Mackenzie Rousseau.

The games were played at Biloxi High School.

The Lady Warriors improved to 18-6 overall with the MACJC sweep and now sport a 7-5 league record. The Gulf Coast Lady Bulldogs fell to 10-8 on the season and 5-5 in the conference.

East Central overcame an early 1-0 deficit in game one with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. Sophomores Mackenzie Johnson of Nanih Waiya and Eva Scott of Centennial High School (Burleson, Texas) each had RBI singles. The Lady Warriors extended the lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning with an RBI single off the bat of freshman Macy Brabham of Brookhaven.

After Gulf Coast took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the frame, the Lady Warriors plated four runs in the top of the sixth to put the game away for good. Sophomore Cassie Obman of Caledonia drove in the tying run with a double, and three batters later Brabham singled in two more runs. Another run came across the plate on a Gulf Coast error.

The Lady Bulldogs got their first two batters on base in the bottom of the seventh, before sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Oswalt shut the door with two fly outs and a ground out to end the game.

Oswalt, who prepped at Heritage Academy in Columbus, picked up her ninth win of the season scattering 10 hits over seven innings with three strikeouts.

Game two was all East Central behind the strong effort in the circle by Rousseau, who prepped at Vanderbilt Catholic in Houma, La. The sophomore gave up four hits and struck out two batters in five innings in getting the shutout win.

East Central scored three runs in the top of the first and four more in the top of the third to take command in the run-rule win.

Sophomores Shelby Walters of Northwest Rankin and Madalyn McMahon of Neshoba Central opened the game with back-to-back singles. Sophomore Kayla Beckham out of Neshoba Central then stepped to the plate and doubled both runners in and the Lady Warriors led 2-0 after three batters. Johnson singled in Beckham later in the inning.

East Central extended its lead to 7-0 in the top of the third. Brabham singled in a run and sophomore Tagen Remmel of Clinton doubled in two more. Sophomore Kenyatta Moore of Philadelphia later hit into a fielder’s choice to score the fourth run of the inning. Moore brought in the eighth and final run of the game in the fifth inning on another fielder’s choice.

McMahon, Johnson, and Remmel each had two hits in the game.

For the day, the Lady Warriors collected 19 hits, including four from Johnson and three each from Brabham and Scott. Brabham knocked in four runs.

Baton Rouge Community College will come to Decatur on Friday, March 23, to make up games that were rained out March 16. The doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. East Central will also be at home Monday, March 26, to host Southwest Mississippi Community College at 3 p.m. and 5 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.