February 15, 2018
East Central Community College’s Kaitlyn Oswalt threw a five-inning no hitter in game one to propel the Lady Warriors to a softball sweep over the Coastal Alabama-East Warhawks Thursday, Feb. 15, in Brewton, Ala.
The ECCC Lady Warriors won game one 10-0. East Central won game two 9-0 in five innings as sophomore pitcher Mackenzie Rousseau gave up just one hit over four innings before Anna Norris (Grove Oak, Ala., Geraldine) pitched the final inning. The Lady Warriors picked up 26 hits in the two games.
With the sweep, No. 10 ranked East Central is now 5-1 on the season. Coastal Alabama-East fell to 0-8.
Oswalt, a sophomore from Heritage Academy in Columbus, struck out six and walked two in picking up her second win of the season against one defeat.
The Lady Warriors picked up four runs in the top of the first and five more in the top of the fifth in the shortened run-rule win.
Sophomore Ali Gartman out of Loyd Star High School picked up East Central’s first home run of the season in the first inning with one batter on base. Sophomore Madalyn McMahon out of Neshoba Central had three hits and two RBI for East Central. Sophomores Mackenzie Johnson of Nanih Waiya, Cassie Obman of Caledonia, and Shelby Walters of Northwest Rankin and freshman Macy Brabham of Brookhaven had two hits each. Brabham and Obman had two RBI apiece.
Rousseau, who prepped at Vanderbilt Catholic in Houma, La., struck out four and didn’t allow a walk in game two in the circle, allowing only a single in the bottom of the fourth. She is now 3-0 on the season.
In the game two win, singles by Johnson and sophomore Tagen Remmel of Clinton drove in two of East Central’s three runs in the first inning, along with a steal of home by McMahon. The Lady Warriors increased their lead to 6-0 with three more runs in the top of the second, including another steal of home by McMahon. Brabham also singled in a run in the second, and a run scored off Kayla Beckham’s (Neshoba Central) sacrifice fly.
Brabham and Remmel both had RBI doubles in the top of the fifth as East Central added three more runs to extend its lead to 9-0.
ECCC will host the EC Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 17. The Lady Diamond Warriors will face East Mississippi Community College at 11 a.m. and Hinds Community College a 3 p.m. Hinds and East Mississippi will play at 1 p.m.
East Central will host three doubleheaders next week. Marion Military Institute visits Decatur on Tuesday, Feb. 20, for games at 2 and 4 p.m.; Coastal Alabama-North visits Saturday, Feb. 24, at 1 and 3 p.m.; and Calhoun Community College visits Sunday, Feb. 25, at 1 and 3 p.m. to make up games originally scheduled for Feb. 6.
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.
