POPLARVILLE – No. 6 Jones College shook off an early punch from No. 13 Itawamba and turned the middle innings into a statement, rolling to a 6-2 win in the opening round of the Region 23 Tournament at Pearl River's Wildcat Stadium on Sunday.
Itawamba came out swinging in the top of the first, stringing together three hits and grabbing a quick 1-0 lead on an RBI-single from AB Marlar. But
Madison Sawyer stranded two Lady Indians and only allowed just the one run.
After two hitless innings to start, the Bobcats settled into the game in the third after
Marlee Dampeer worked a leadoff walk and
Laney Little cashed it in with a double to left to tie things up. One batter later,
Mabry Eason lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Little from second base.
Itawamba answered in the fourth after Ella Duhon ripped a triple down the right field line and came around to score on a throwing error, knotting things at 2-2. But that unearned run ended up being the last real spark for the Lady Indians.
The fifth inning is where things broke open.
Little drew a walk and Eason hit a go-ahead homer to left-center that appeared to be caught by Victoria Fields, but she crashed into the fence and her glove and the ball went over to make it 4-2.
Farrah James ripped an RBI-single down the right field line to push the lead to 5-2.
Sawyer added an RBI-single in the sixth to make it 6-2 and closed the game with a strikeout.
The Jones ace was steady all day, improving to 19-1 by scattering six hits and allowing just one earned run across seven innings.
Eason led the charge with three RBIs, highlighted by the go-ahead blast. Little scored twice and set the table all afternoon, while James chipped in a pair of hits and an RBI.
Jones advances to face tournament host Pearl River in a winners' bracket showdown Monday at 1 p.m. The two split in the regular season.
Tickets can be purchased through
prccathletics.com/tickets. The game will be live streamed at
prccmedia.com/gold.
