| EMCC Lady Lions cling to division lead with home softball sweep over Northeast Mississippi |
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SCOOBA – The front-running Lady Lions of East Mississippi Community College maintained their cushion atop the MACJC North Division softball standings by sweeping Northeast Mississippi, 6-4 and 7-2, Tuesday afternoon at the EMCC Softball Field.
In addition to improving their division-leading record to 12-2, head coach Kate Neely’s EMCC Lady Lions also went over the .500 mark on the year at 16-15 with the twinbill sweep of the visiting Lady Tigers. In the opener, East Mississippi quickly pushed across three runs in the bottom of the first inning on consecutive bases-loaded infield singles from Lainie Simcox and Nashedra Barry followed by a run-scoring groundout off the bat of Courtney Castleberry. After Northeast reached EMCC starter Amy Johnson for three runs in the third, Simcox’s two-run home run to left-center field in the home half broke the 3-3 tie. A freshman third baseman from Southeast Lauderdale, Simcox added another infield single in the fifth for her seventh consecutive hit in as many at-bats over two games. She previously went 4-for-4 in Saturday's come-from-behind 7-4 nightcap win at Northwest Mississippi. Simcox would score on Castleberry’s sacrifice fly in the fifth to push the EMCC lead to 6-3, but the visitors rallied in the seventh inning and brought the potential-tying run to the plate. After leading off the frame with a double, Raleigh Downs scored on Nicki Whitten’s one-out double to right field. However, Johnson settled down to retire the next two batters to earn the complete-game victory for the Lady Lions. A freshman right-hander from Starks, La., Johnson surrendered four runs on nine hits, while fanning two and walking just one, in raising her record to 11-8 on the season. In the nightcap, the Lady Lions touched Northeast pitcher Jazmin Smith for seven runs on seven hits while batting around in the second inning. Simcox capped EMCC’s scoring with a three-run line-drive homer off the scoreboard in left-center field for her team-leading sixth round-tripper of the campaign. With Barry in the circle for East Mississippi in the second contest, the Lady Tigers tallied an unearned run in the third inning and added another score in the seventh with the aid of a pair of EMCC errors. A sophomore right-hander from Columbus High School, Barry allowed two runs on just four hits, while striking out four and not issuing a walk, in going the distance and upping her record to 5-1 on the year. Offensively in the nightcap, the Lady Lions evenly distributed nine hits throughout the lineup after having 10 hits in the opening game. On the day, Simcox led the way by going 4-for-6 at the plate with two home runs, six runs batted in and three runs scored. Barry followed with three singles during the doubleheader, while sophomore shortstop Mallory Pace, of Northeast Lauderdale, walked three times in the second game after going 2-for-4 in the opener. After stepping out of division play with a Wednesday doubleheader at Southwest Tennessee CC, the Lady Lions will venture to Fulton for a key divisional twinbill against Itawamba on Monday (April 11). |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 April 2011 ) |
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