Softball turns attention to Region 23 Tournament play
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, MS – The Itawamba Community College softball team will look to rebound from their lackluster performance in the opening round of the state tournament when they open region tournament play on Thursday.
The Lady Indians (31-13-1) fell to Pearl River Community College (25-22) 15-0 in five innings in the opening round of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) State Tournament at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
"It just wasn't our day," said ICC head coach Andy Kirk. "Pearl River came out playing lights out and got us on our heels from the start. We could never get our feet under us enough to recover from their quick start."
ICC automatically qualified for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 23 Tournament by winning their second-straight MACJC North Division title by sweeping East Mississippi Community College (24-19) to close out the regular season.
The Lady Indians will take on nationally-ranked and 2013 MACJC Champion Jones County Junior College Thursday at 4:00 p.m. on Field 4 at Traceway Park in Clinton.
"It's going to be a tough test for us," Kirk commented. "Jones has had an outstanding season and will come in with a chip on their shoulder after splitting with us at our place earlier in the season. Hopefully we'll come out more focused and ready to play than we were for the state tournament."
ICC is lone team representing the North Division in this year's NJCAA Region 23 tournament while No. 2 seed Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (33-9), No. 3 LSU-Eunice (52-4), No. 4 East Central Community College (31-15) and No. 5 Pearl River Community College make-up the rest of the field in the double elimination tournament.
LSU-Eunice brings the nation's No. 1 ranking into the tournament while MS Gulf Coast is seventh and Jones County is ranked eighth in the latest NJCAA softball poll. The Lady Indians just missed out on breaking into the nation's Top 20 in the final poll of the regular season.
A win by the Lady Indians would pit them against the loser between LSU-Eunice and East Central while a loss would be them in an elimination game against the loser between Pearl River and MS Gulf Coast at noon on Friday.
The games can be seen on live at www.ihigh.com/iccathletics.
For more information on ICC softball, follow the Lady Indians on Twitter (@LetsGoICC)