ELLISVILLE – No. 7 Jones College split a doubleheader with No. 18 Pearl River Wednesday at Community Bank Park/Gwen Magee Field
Breelyn Cain (West Lauderdale) allowed one earned run as Jones won the opener, 3-2. In the nightcap,
Jayden Sawyer (Mobile, Ala.) tied a career-high with 16 strikeouts, but the Wildcats rallied for a 2-1 victory.
Jones ends the regular season at 43-8, 21-5 MACCC and will now host a four-team region pod May 1-4. Tournament times and pairings will be announced soon.
Pearl River moved to 33-14, 17-7 MACCC.
The winner of the four-team pod at Jones will meet the winner of the other region tournament pod being hosted by Copiah-Lincoln on May 7 for the Region 23 Championship and automatic berth in the NJCAA Division II World Series.
Jones 3, Pearl River 2
Cain struck out three, walked one and improved to 14-4 on her freshman campaign in a complete game performance.
Jones took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when
Claire Andersen (Wayne Academy) led off with a walk and
Makynlie Jones (Vardaman) doubled to left-center. Sawyer followed with a single to score Andersen and
Emily Mizelle's (Mobile, Ala.) fielder's choice scored Jones.
The Bobcats made it 3-0 in the fourth when
Laney Little (Mize) reached on an error to start the inning and was sacrificed to second by
Marlee Dampeer (Puckett). Jones then drove Little in with a single to center.
The Wildcats got a run in the fifth and had runners at second and third with one out, but Maeli Ben lined out to Mizelle at third for a double play.
Pearl River added a run in the seventh on Natalee Eaves' double. But Cain got a ground out to end the game.
Jones doubled and singled to lead the Bobcats. Sawyer, Mizelle,
Meredith Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) and
Addy Shorter (Oxford) added singles.
Lizzie Meeks went 6.0 innings and got the loss. She allowed two earned runs, seven hits, walked three and struck out two.
Kai Goodman led PRCC with three singles and Eaves doubled and singled.
Gracey Harbour doubled with Emmaleigh Theriot, Ben, Cailey Pervel and Caitlyn Riche adding singles.
Pearl River 2, Jones 1
The Bobcats led 1-0 entering the sixth, but PRCC scored single runs in the sixth and seventh to hand Sawyer the tough-luck loss.
Jones scored its only run in the bottom of the first when Andersen led off with a single, stole second and scored on a single by Sawyer.
The Wildcats tied it in the sixth when Eaves led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on Caroline Lindsey's single.
With the bases empty and two out in the top of the seventh, Theriot was hit by a pitch and stole second. Eaves followed with an RBI single to right.
Sawyer, who had tossed back-to-back no-hitters, allowed only five hits and walked four. She is now 8-3 on the season.
Ana-Grace Garcia went the distance and got the victory. She gave up only three hits, walked two and struck out eight.
Andersen singled twice and Sawyer singled for the Bobcats.
Goodman and Eaves each had two singles for PRCC and Lindsey added a single.
