No. 6 Indians earn Game 1 win over East Mississippi, 9-6
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, MS – The No. 6 Itawamba Community College softball team earned a 9-6 come-from-behind win over East Mississippi Community College in Game 1 of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) best-of-three playoff series on Friday.
With the win, the Indians takes a 1-0 lead in the series. The second game of the series is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the ICC Softball Complex with East Mississippi (18-26) as the home team. If necessary, Game 3 will start after a 30-minute intermission with ICC taking over as the home team.
The Indians (37-10-1) were led at the plate by sophomore Alex Brown (Pontotoc) and freshman Meg Sullivan (Springville, AL). Brown went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two runs, and a RBI while Sullivan went 2-for-4 with a double, run scored, and a RBI.
For EMCC, Mallory Vance went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI, and a pair of runs. Treasure Lynch went 2-for-3 with a triple, a RBI, and a run scored.
The Lions jumped out to an early lead with an in-the-park home run by Vance with the first at-bat of the game and took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second on a single by Lynch to score AG Stewart, courtesy running for Layton Sills.
ICC answered in the bottom half of the inning after three-straight walks from Carly Thompson before a passed ball allowed McKenzie Piper (Pell City, AL) to score before a perfectly executed squeeze play by Mary Kansas Sullivan (Houston) pushed across Kaitlyn Rhodes (Alexandria, AL) to tie the contest at 2-2.
The Indians took their first lead on the game, 3-2, when Brown doubled and scored on a double by Mamie Hollenhead (Mathiston). The Lions rallied to take a 4-3 advantage when Lynch tripled and scored on a single by Vance, who scored on an error by the Indians.
ICC rebounded with three runs in the bottom of fourth to take a 7-4 lead. Cori Childs (New Site), running for Mary Kansas Sullivan who reached on a single and took second on an error, scored when Maura Jane Autry (Holly Springs) reached on the second error of the inning by EMCC. Autry scored on Brown's second double of the game, who scored on a double by Meg Sullivan before the Lions could get out the inning.
EMCC would not go quietly into the night, as they answered with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to cut the Indians' lead to 7-6. ICC matched the Lions' two runs in the bottom half of the inning when Piper walked and scored on a double by Rhodes. Kelcie Yates (Yazoo City) replaced Rhodes on the bases and scored when she beat the throw home on the second squeeze play executed successfully by Mary Kansas Sullivan.
The Indians added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth to take a 9-6 lead. Meg Sullivan singled and advanced on an error before scoring on a two-out error by the Lions.
Sophomore Carleigh Mills (Corinth) gave up four runs, one earned, on four hits in 5.1 innings of work to pick up her 18th win of the season. The win gives her the single-season win mark and career wins record with her 33rd as an Indian.
VIDEO: Highlights from the Indians' Game 1 win over East Mississippi
In other playoff action: No. 1 Jones County Junior College (43-2) defeated Southwest Mississippi Community College (18-26) 10-2 in five innings, No. 7 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (36-10) beat Northeast Mississippi Community College (29-20) 3-1, and No. 9 East Central Community College (41-6) knocked off Northwest Mississippi Community College (22-19) 13-5 in five innings
If JCJC wins its series with Southwest, the Bobcats will host next weekend's MACJC State Tournament.
Game 2 and Game 3, if necessary, between ICC and EMCC will be available on LetsGoICCTV.com/RED.
For more information on ICC Softball, follow ICC Athletics on Twitter (@LetsGoICC).