March 10, 2018

The East Central Community College Lady Warriors came up on the short end of a doubleheader matching two nationally ranked softball teams as Itawamba Community College took the sweep Friday, March 9, on the ICC campus in Fulton.

The No. 11 ICC Lady Indians took the opener 6-3 and came back to take game two 4-0.

With the losses, No. 8 East Central’s record fell to 14-6 overall on the season and 3-5 in MACJC action. Itawamba is now 17-3 overall and 8-0 in the league.

East Central went to its last at-bat in game one trailing 6-2, but with a chance to tie or move ahead in the ballgame. Sophomore Ali Gartman, who prepped at Loyd Star, opened the seventh inning for the Lady Warriors with her third home run of the season to bring the score to 6-3. With one out, sophomore Mackenzie Johnson of Nanih Waiya singled. After another East Central out, sophomore Shelby Walters of Northwest Rankin got on base on an error, and sophomore Madalyn McMahon of Neshoba Central singled to load the bases with two outs. Winning ICC pitcher Bailie Springfield then got East Central’s Kayla Beckham of Neshoba Central on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.

Gartman and Walters each had two of the Lady Warriors’ seven hits in the game.

Game two belonged to the Lady Indians’ pitchers as East Central could manage only three hits, including two by Johnson.

The Lady Warriors will kick off Spring Break week by facing Lansing Community College (Mich.) at 9 a.m. on Sunday, March 11, in the Jones County Junior College Invitational in Ellisville.

The Lady Warriors will then host Baton Rouge Community College on Friday, March 16, at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and Coahoma Community College on Sunday, March 18, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the Softball Park in Decatur.

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.