| EMCC Lady Lions fall to division foe Itawamba, 7-2 and 6-0, in Tuesday home softball action |
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SCOOBA – The East Mississippi Community College softball team dropped a home doubleheader, 7-2 and 6-0, to division foe Itawamba Community College Tuesday afternoon on the EMCC campus.
The opening contest began with lost scoring opportunities for both teams. Though the visitors pushed across solo tallies in each of the first five innings, the Lady Indians left two runners on base during each of the first four frames. Despite leaving a dozen runners on base for the contest, including four stranded in scoring position through the first two innings, ICC countered by out-hitting the home team, 13-8. In the bottom of the first, the Lady Lions utilized singles by Alex Smith and Allison Hauer along with hit-by-pitch efforts from Amber Spann and Stormy Lewis to initially tie up the game. Despite the first four batters reaching base, EMCC could only manage the one run before leaving the bases loaded. The Lady Lions trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the third when Lewis doubled and came around to score on Cory Roberson’s infield single and subsequent throwing error by ICC shortstop Holly Schlicht. However, that was all the scoring EMCC would muster off Itawamba pitching the rest of the afternoon. The Lady Indians all but sealed the opening-game win on a two-out, two-run single by pinch-hitter Courtney Dawson in the sixth inning. Game one starting pitcher Kristyn Atkins, from Heritage Academy, settled down to hold the Lady Lions to just two hits over the final four innings. In the nightcap, ICC freshman Meg Whitten limited EMCC to only four total hits en route to completing the doubleheader sweep for the Lady Indians. Offensively in the opener, former Clarkdale teammates Spann and Smith each had two hits apiece for the home-standing Lady Lions. Freshman right-hander Stevie Wilson pitched into the sixth inning, allowing a dozen hits and all seven runs, to drop to 2-6 on the season with the setback. The visitors grabbed the early 1-0 lead again in the nightcap on a solo home run by Jessi Patterson off EMCC’s Smith, making her first collegiate start in the circle. Undaunted, the Lady Lions appeared on their way to making some noise in the bottom half of the frame. EMCC loaded the bases with no outs on a leadoff double from Spann followed by a walk to Smith and a bunt single by Paige Sheppard. However, the momentum quickly turned on back-to-back ground balls to ICC third baseman Kami Roberts, who first turned Lewis’ hard hit ball into a double play at home and then forced out Sheppard at third on Logan Bozeman’s grounder to the bag. The Lady Indians took advantage of the change in momentum by scoring three more runs in the top of the second, highlighted by Anna Holley’s two-out, two-run single off Smith. Holley, a former New Hope product, would later cap her 5-for-9 day at the plate with another clutch, two-run base hit with two outs in the sixth inning. Smith, who had an infield hit in the sixth for her third hit of the day, took the loss for the Lady Lions. She was relieved by Misty Richard, of West Lauderdale, in the third inning, who gave way to former Kemper Academy product Shelby Sheppard in the sixth. Now 5-16 overall and winless in six attempts within the division, head coach Kate Neely’s EMCC Lady Lions will hit the road for five straight doubleheaders away from home to close out the month of March. That upcoming three-week stretch begins with Friday’s MACJC North Division twinbill against Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead. The Lady Lions’ next home action is slated for Monday, April 2 versus Northeast Mississippi Community College. |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 07 March 2012 ) |
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