| Comeback attempts fall short as EMCC Lady Lions drop softball doubleheader at East Central |
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DECATUR – Despite a pair of comeback attempts, the Lady Lions of East Mississippi Community College dropped 8-5 and 12-7 softball road decisions to defending MACJC State Champion East Central Community College Wednesday afternoon.
EMCC’s comeback prowess was none more evident than in the nightcap when the visitors rallied from a 7-0 deficit to post a seven-run fifth inning before faltering in the latter innings. After the Lady Warriors put up a pair of first-inning runs followed by a single tally in the second and four more scores in the third inning, the visitors parlayed a couple of bases on balls and an East Central fielding error together with five consecutive hits to produce their monster inning. The Lady Lions sent 11 batters to the plate in that fifth frame, capped by Paige Sheppard’s three-run home run to left-center field to knot the score at 7-7. Prior to Sheppard’s first collegiate homer, EMCC set up the game-tying blast with run-scoring singles by Stevie Wilson, Alex Smith and Amber Spann. To their credit, the defending state champs bounced right back with a run in the bottom half of the fifth while adding four more runs in the sixth to produce the final margin. East Central relievers Mary Sanders and Tenna Patterson put the clamps on the Lady Lions by not allowing an EMCC base runner in either the sixth or seventh innings. In the opening contest, the Lady Lions grabbed an early 1-0 lead by scoring an unearned run in the third inning. East Central’s Brittany Pounders promptly tied the score at 1-1 with a leadoff homer to right field off EMCC starting pitcher Stevie Wilson. However, the opener quickly took a turn for the worse the next inning for the visitors, as the Lady Warriors exploded for a seven-run fifth frame to move ahead by a seemingly comfortable 8-1 margin with two innings left. Just as they would also do in the next outing, the Lady Lions pulled together to make it an 8-5 contest by plating four runs in the top of the seventh inning. Highlighting EMCC’s comeback attempt in the final frame was a two-run home run by freshman Cortnee Meyers. Offensively on the day, the Lady Lions managed 13 total hits off East Central pitching, led by Smith’s 3-for-6 combined effort. The former Clarkdale product also had two RBIs and scored a pair of runs. Paige Sheppard, of Southeast Lauderdale, drove home four runs on the afternoon, adding an RBI double in the first game in advance of her three-run homer in the nightcap. Head coach Kate Neely’s 4-8 EMCC Lady Lions now travel to Community Bank Park in Ellisville to compete in Saturday’s Gwen Magee Invitational on the campus of Jones County Junior College. With three games on tap for EMCC, the Lady Lions will take on Marion Military Institute at 1 p.m., followed by Baton Rouge Community College at 3 p.m. and then 10th-ranked JCJC at 7 p.m. |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 23 February 2012 ) |
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