May 2, 2022
Both the East Central Community College baseball and softball teams will be in action this week in postseason play. East Central is one of just six MACCC programs to have both teams competing in postseason play and over the past 12 years, ECCC baseball coach Neal Holliman, and ECCC softball coach Leigh White, have sent their respective programs to the playoffs a combined 23 times.
Baseball and softball have two different postseason structures. In softball, the conference's top eight programs – based on regular-season conference record – play a double-elimination MACCC Tournament at the No. 1 seed's home site to determine a conference champion. The winner of the MACCC event, along with the four other top finishers advance to the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament set to be played the following week with the winner of that advancing to the NJCAA DII World Series. The Region Tournament will be hosted by the MACCC winner, with the exception being Jones College as the same team cannot host both the MACCC and Region Tournament. In that scenario, the host site would move to the MACCC runner-up.
Baseball selects the top nine programs based on the regular-season conference schedule, with the No. 1 team being tabbed conference champion. Seeds two through nine then play a best-of-three play-in series at the higher seeds' home field. The four programs that advance from the best-of-three series then join the No. 1 seed along with LSU Eunice for the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament to determine the region winner and selection for the NJCAA DII World Series. The Region Tournament is held at the No. 1 seeds home field.
Softball
Final standings:
No. 1 Jones
No. 2 Co-Lin
No. 3 Itawamba
No. 4 Pearl River
No. 5 Northwest
No. 6 East Central
No. 7 Northeast
No. 8 Gulf Coast
The MACCC Tournament will take place in Ellisville on the campus of Jones College beginning Wednesday, May 4. The No. 6 Lady Warriors are slated to take on No. 3 ICC in the first round of the double-elimination tournament at 11 a.m. With a win, the Lady Warriors would face the winner of Co-Lin and Northeast on Thursday, May 5 at 4 p.m., and with a loss, ECCC would take on the loser of the Co-Lin/Northeast matchup on Thursday, May 5 at 11 a.m.
Fans interested in attending the softball tournament in Ellisville can find more information and purchase tickets at jcbobcats.com/sports/2022/4/28/2022-maccc-softball-tournament.aspx.
ECCC's games will be streamed live at jcbobcats.com/watch.
Baseball
Final Standings
No. 1 Pearl River
No. 2 Meridian
No. 3 East Mississippi
No. 4 Hinds
No. 5 Northeast
No. 6 Jones College
No. 7 Gulf Coast
No. 8 East Central
No. 9 Northwest
ECCC will travel to East Mississippi for a best-of-three series beginning on Thursday, May 5. Game two will be played on Friday, May 6, and game three, if necessary, on Saturday, May 7. All three games are scheduled for 2 p.m. start times. Fans can watch the games live at www.EMCCAthletics.com/live courtesy of East Mississippi.
The winner of the series will advance to the Region 23 Tournament in Poplarville on the campus of Pearl River the week of Monday, May 16.
