FULTON – Make room in the trophy case, more softball hardware is headed back to Ellisville. 

No. 6 Jones (39-7) capped off an impressive four-day run at the 2021 MACCC Softball Tournament with a 4-0 shutout of No. 2 Itawamba on Saturday to win the tournament championship. 

"There was a different feel about this team heading into this tournament," 12th year head coach Chris Robinson said. "I'm extremely proud of the way our kids competed. A special thanks to coach (Bob) Herrington and coach (Tori) Dew for their hard work they put in to get these kids ready to play."

Riding the arm of freshman hurler Nia Luckett, the Bobcats knocked off Northeast, No. 3 Gulf Coast and No. 2 Itawamba on its home field (twice) in consecutive days to extend their winning streak to 17 games. 

"To go through this tournament undefeated with three Top 5 wins is truly a remarkable feat," Robinson continued. "We played all three phases of the game very well, and I couldn't be happier for our players and coaches."

After winning seven of the last nine conference championships, a national championship in 2018 and three national runner-up finishes, Jones has established itself as one of the premier softball programs in the country.

Jones set the tone with a 9-0 run-rule win over Northeast on Wednesday and felt like the team to beat all week.

In Saturday's championship game against the Indians, Luckett and Itawamba ace Emily Robinson went head-to-head for seven awesome innings.

Scoreless through four, Jones broke the stalemate in the top of the fifth. 

Kristian Edwards singled, stole second and came around to score on Tyesha Cole's RBI-double to left center to give JC the 1-0 lead.

Itawamba threatened in the sixth with runners at second and third and only one out before Luckett got back-to-back ground outs to keep the Indians off the board.

The final out of the inning was one you had to see to believe. After a hot shot right at Lauren Lindsey at first bounced off her glove and into the glove of a diving Kat Wallace at second, both players immediately regrouped off the ground, stood up and connected to record the third out. 

Tia'Rain Saunders then delivered the knockout punch in the seventh, sending the first pitch of the inning over the fence in left to make it 2-0 Bobcats. Edwards singled and scored on Cole's RBI-triple and came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.

Luckett sealed the deal in the bottom half, striking out pinch-hitter Madison Burrus to end the game and a fantastic week in the circle.

Luckett was 4-0 with four complete games, three shutouts and 38 strikeouts against just seven walks and two runs allowed. 

Itawamba was 22-1 at home entering the tournament before Jones handed the Indians consecutive losses.

Jones will now turn its attention to the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament May 13-16 in Eunice, La., on the campus of LSU Eunice. The Bobcats face Northwest Mississippi at 3 p.m. Thursday.