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Sophomore Josie Matthews went 2-for-3 at the plate during all three games of EMCC’s recent fall softball tournament action in Senatobia.
After opening the one-day tournament with an 8-5 victory over Itawamba Community College, coach Kate Neely’s Lady Lions dropped a tough 1-0 decision to Pearl River before falling, 7-5, in extra innings to East Central in the day’s nightcap.
“I was extremely pleased with our overall play in the Northwest tournament,” Neely noted. “I was especially impressed with our hitting and the way we attacked the ball. I was also encouraged by the versatility shown by many of our players who played out of position and responded by doing a very commendable job.”
In their second competition of the fall campaign, the Lady Lions opened the day’s action by plating three runs in the first and third innings en route to combining for 11 hits in a three-run triumph over the ICC Lady Indians. Sophomore Sara Havard of Meridian went 3-for-3, including a double, with three runs batted in and two runs scored in the opener, while former West Lauderdale High School teammate Josie Matthews recorded her first of three individual 2-for-3 outings on the day. On the mound, sophomore Brooke Lee, also of Meridian’s West Lauderdale High, picked up her second victory of the fall campaign.
The day’s second contest saw EMCC sophomore Teddie Eden involved in a classic pitcher’s duel. The Lady Lions managed eight singles in the game, including a pair of hits by Matthews and Linsey Upton of Columbus’ New Hope High School. In the opening frame, EMCC could not push across a run after beginning the game with four straight base runners, while the Wildcats plated their leadoff hitter in the first inning with the help of two Lady Lion errors and a pair of passed balls. PRCC was limited to three singles by Eden and reliever Courtney Nunn.
Nunn, a freshman from Jonesboro, La., came back to take the mound in the finale against East Central, striking out nine Lady Warrior batters. The two teams traded two-run first innings, as sophomore Summer Frost of Maben led off with an inside-the-park home run. ECCC added two more runs in the third, but the Lady Lions countered two innings later with a pair of runs of their own on successive run-scoring hits from Upton and Matthews. However, East Central out-scored EMCC, 3-1, via the international tiebreaker in the extra sixth frame.
For the day in Senatobia, East Mississippi’s Matthews went 6-for-9 to lead the Lady Lion hitters, while Upton was 5-for-8 with four runs batted in and Havard totaled four hits and drove in three runs in eight at-bats.
The Lady Lion softball team concludes fall action by competing in an East Central-hosted tournament on Thursday, Oct. 9, before heading to Russellville, Ark., that weekend to participate in a tournament hosted by Arkansas Tech.