EUNICE, LA – Missed opportunities and a career-day in the circle doomed the No. 5 Indians (36-8) in a 4-3 eight-inning loss to No. 8 Co-Lin (31-9) in the opening round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 23 Softball Tournament.
Trailing 2-0, the Indians plated three runs to take the lead in the bottom of the third inning.
McKenzie Patterson (Corinth) reached on a one-out single and scored on a double by Katie Rutledge (Manchester, Tenn.). Rutledge tied the game when Kara Hays (Mooreville) reached on an error. The Indians took their first lead of the game when Hays scored on a single by Brianna Posey (Florence, Ala.) before the Wolves could get out the inning.
The two team traded outs and leaving runners in scoring position over the next two innings.
Molly Johnson tied game, 3-3, with a single to center to score Julianna Johnson, who was running for Abigail Carter, in the top of the sixth inning.
Kaitie Boatner (Guntown) started the bottom of the seventh with a single and stole second with one out in the inning. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases for the Indians but fly ball to shallow center forced the game into extra innings.
Carlon Barbham to advantage of the gusting winds and snuck a ball out of the park in left to give the Wolves a 4-3 advantage in the top of the eighth inning.
Hannah Henry (Brandon) walked and advance to second with two outs in the inning before Blanchard struck out her season-high 12th batter of the game to lift the Wolves to the victory.
Rutledge, Jenkins, and Boatner each had a pair of hits in the loss. The Indians left nine runners on base, five in scoring position.
Emily Robinson (Springville, Ala.) fell to 9-2 on the season after giving up two earned runs on three hits and one walk while striking out three in five innings of work.
ICC will face No. 2 Jones College (40-7) in the second round of the region tournament at 3:30 p.m. Friday. The Bobcats picked up a 5-0 win over Northwest (19-7) on Thursday. For the Indians, Friday's game with Jones will be an elimination game.
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