Regan Shows (left) drove home nine runs, including a grand slam and three-run homer, while Courtney Nunn struck out 12 batters and allowed just two singles, to help lead the EMCC Lady Lions to an 11-2 victory in the first game of a Saturday softball doubleheader split at Holmes.
The Lady Lions struck for five runs in the first inning of the opener, as Shows capped the frame with a two-out grand slam – her second bases-loaded home run in a little over a week. The sophomore from Beaumont also belted a grand slam at Coahoma on April 10. After Holmes got one of the runs back in the bottom of the first, Shows smacked a two-out, three-run homer in the third to make it an 8-1 contest after three innings.
A former standout at Perry Central High School who transferred to Scooba from Jones County, Shows completed her 3-for-3, 9-RBI outing with a two-run single in the Lady Lions’ three-run fifth inning. Shows leads East Mississippi with four round-trippers on the season.
Summer Frost, a product of East Webster High School, also went for 3-for-3 in the opener with a pair of doubles and three runs scored. Former West Lauderdale standouts Josie Matthews and Jessica Vick added a pair of hits apiece to contribute to EMCC’s 13-hit attack in the opener.
Nunn, a freshman right-hander from Jonesboro, La., only allowed two hits - singles in the first and fourth innings - en route to picking up her ninth victory of the season. In addition to recording 12 strikeouts in the opener, she issued three bases on balls over five innings of work before the game was called due to the mercy rule.
In the nightcap, Kandi Ray’s three-run home run in the sixth off Nunn proved to be the difference in the 4-2 Holmes decision. EMCC scored first with a tally in the fourth inning on Vick’s run-scoring double, but the Lady Bulldogs answered with a score in their half of the fourth. The Lady Lions tried to mount a rally in the seventh, but could only manage an RBI single by Frost.
Limited to seven hits in the second contest, the Lady Lions were led at the plate by Linsey Upton’s three singles. Dropping to 9-12 on the year, Nunn also went the distance in the nightcap for East Mississippi, giving up seven hits while striking out six and not issuing a walk.
Head coach Kate Neely’s Lady Lions, now 18-22 overall and 11-9 in North Division play, head into the final week of the regular season looking to secure a spot in next weekend’s MACJC State Tournament. EMCC will close out its 2009 home slate Monday by playing host to divisional foe Mississippi Delta in a revised tripleheader set to begin at 1 p.m. on the Scooba campus.