FULTON, Miss. – The bats heated up late Friday night to help the No. 3 Indians plate eight runs in the final three innings of their 8-2 victory over Pearl River Community College in the opening game of the MACJC Softball Tournament.
Pearl River (26-19) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Elizabeth Taggard reached on a one-out single and scored on a home run to center by Halle Malone. The Indians (40-7) went three up and three down in the bottom half of the inning.
ICC got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Samantha Conley (Mandeville, La.) singled and scored on a throwing error that allowed McKenzie Piper (Pell City) to reach with one out in the inning.
The Indians broke open the game to take a 5-2 lead after four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Olivia Burns (Grenada) singled and advanced to third on a double over the centerfielder's head by Madison Carnes (Ecru). With two outs in the inning, Meg Sullivan (Springville, Ala.) ripped a two-strike single up the middle to push across Burns and Carnes to give the Indians their first lead of the game.
Sullivan went 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI.
Conley followed with a two-run bomb to right field to put the Indians up 5-2 before Pearl River could get out of the inning. It was the catcher's first collegiate home run. The Louisiana native went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two runs driven.
The Indians put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Bailie Springfield (Mantee) and Haley Reid (Batesville) each drew a one-out walk before Burns was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cori Childs (New Site) was hit by a pitch and Shelby Newsom (Cleveland) dropped a two-run single in shallow left field with two outs in the inning.
Trailing 8-2, Pearl River put runners on first and second before Burns collected her third strikeout of the game to pick up her 19th win of the season.
Burns replaced Springfield in the fifth inning and tossed three innings of scoreless action while allowing two hits and striking out three. Springfield gave up two earned runs on six hits and a pair of walks while striking out five in four innings of work.
The win set the mark for most wins in a regular season at 40 for the program. With the win, the Indians will host the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament May 10-12.
UPDATE: Saturday morning the tournament was postponed a day after heavy rains moved through the Fulton area.
The Indians will face No. 4 Jones County Junior College (44-3) in the semifinals of the winner's bracket Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The Wildcats will take on No. 10 East Central (34-11) in the first elimination game of the tournament.
The loser from the ICC and Jones game will face the winner of the Pearl River and East Central game at 5:00 in another elimination game.
The tournament championship game(s) have been moved to Monday.
For more information on ICC softball, follow the Indians on Twitter (@LetsGoICC).