ELLISVILLE – No. 1 Jones County Junior College rolled to a 9-1, fivie inning victory over No. 12 East Central here at Community Bank Park Wednesday evening in game two of a doubleheader.
JCJC won the opener, 4-3.
The Lady Bobcats are 13-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. ECCC drops to 13-3 and 0-2.
The Lady Bobcats will now head to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Classic in Columbus, Georgia, this weekend.
JCJC will No. 19 CCBC-Catonsville (Maryland) at 11:30 a.m. on Friday and Sinclair College (Ohio) at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Lady Bobcats meet No. 6 Des Moines Area Community College (Iowa) at 11:30 a.m. and No. 5 Kirkwood (Iowa) at 4:30 p.m. They conclude the tournament with an 11:30 a.m. game Sunday vs. Illinois Central.
ECCC hosts Coahoma on Friday.
Kelsha Loftin (Mendenhall) set the tone quickly in game two.
In the bottom of the first,
Cori McCrary (Carroll Academy) reached on an error and Loftin slugged a home run to centerfield. Kelly Byrd (Copiah Academy) drew a walk, took second and third on a pair of groundouts and scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.
Jones made it 5-0 in the second when
Brittany Hagwood (Enterprise) led off with a single and was sacrificed by McCrary. Loftin singled and
Autumn Frost (East Webster) followed with a two-run single.
The Lady Bobcats took a 7-0 lead in the third.
Natalie Hogue (Harrison Central) and
Jessie Bumpous (Southaven) singled and Hagwood walked to load the bases. McCrary walked to force home Murray, the courtesy runner, and Loftin's fielder's choice scored Bumpous.
ECCC got its run in the fourth when Beckham doubled and scored on McCray's single.
Jones took an 8-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Brittany Baty (Northeast Lauderdale) singled,
Emily Robinson (Lafayette) reached on a fielder's choice and Hogue doubled Robinson home.
JCJC ended the game in the fifth when McCrary singled, stole second and scored on Loftin's single.
Karli Perque (Westwego, Louisiana) went the distance and got the win. She allowed one run, six hits, struck out eight and walked none. She is now 4-0 on the year.
Loftin homered, singled twice and drove in four runs, while Hogue doubled and singled twice. McCrary, Frost, Baty, Robinson, Bumpous and Hagwood added singles.
Kayla Beckham doubled twice for ECCC with Brittney McCray, Katherine Shell, Tagen Remmel and Abby Winstead adding singles.
Mackenzie Rousseau went 4 1/3 innings and took the loss. She allowed eight runs (six earned), 10 hits, walked three and struck out one. Kaitlyn Oswalt tossed 1/3 of an inning and gave up a run and two hits.
