SCOOBA, Miss. — No. 1 Pearl River softball erupted for 23 runs Saturday afternoon to sweep East Mississippi. The Wildcats took game one 7-3 before winning game two 16-2 in five innings.
"In the first game, it was tough to get our timing down and string some things together, but we started to open things up late," head coach Christie Meeks said. "That carried over into the second game, where we really broke things open. I'm extremely proud of our hitters for making adjustments at the plate."
GAME ONE
Pearl River (21-3, 5-1 MACCC) set the tone early against East Mississippi (9-17, 1-9), striking in the first inning. Addy Grace Alexander (Poplarville) worked a seven-pitch at-bat into a triple and scored on a Natalee Eaves (Louisville; Choctaw Central) groundout, 1-0.
The Wildcats added on in the third. Eaves delivered her second RBI groundout of the game, and Jaycee Holifield (Laurel; Stringer) followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.
Teegan DeWitt (Pass Christian; Hancock) cruised into the sixth before giving way to Ann Elise Duncan (McComb; Brookhaven Academy) with runners aboard. Duncan worked out of the jam with a strikeout and a lineout to keep EMCC off the board.
Pearl River broke things open in the seventh, scoring four runs with two outs. Consecutive singles by Kai Goodman (New Orleans, La.; John Curtis), Alexander and Shania Fondren (Batesville; South Panola) plated a run, and an error made it 5-0. Farley Harris (Daphne, Ala.) added an RBI double, and Holifield capped the inning with an RBI single up the middle, 7-0.
East Mississippi pushed across three runs in the bottom half, but the Wildcats closed it out, 7-3.
DeWitt earned the win, tossing 5 1/3 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. Duncan allowed three runs in 1 2/3 innings of relief.
Alexander led the offense, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Goodmn and Holifield each had two hits.
GAME TWO
Pearl River's offense stayed hot in game two, erupting for 16 runs on 15 hits.
The Wildcats struck for four runs in the first behind RBI efforts from Fondren, Eaves and Holifield, along with a sacrifice fly from Maeli Ben (Conehatta; Newton County).
After working out of early trouble, Ana-Grace Garcia (Baton Rouge, La.; St. Joseph's) settled in — and the offense took over.
Pearl River sent 13 batters to the plate in the second, scoring 10 runs. Alexander drove in a run before Shania Fondren (Batesville; South Panola) launched a two-run home run. Ben, Caroline Woodward (Gulfport) and Taylor Foster (Petal) followed with RBI hits to extend the lead. Erin Meadows (Leakesville; George County) added a two-run double off the bench before Fondren struck again, blasting her second home run of the game to make it 14-0. The freshman now sits at 17 home runs on the season, just one shy of tying the program's single-season record.
"Shania is just so level all the time. I'm so appreciative of that. Everyone responds to adversity differently. She doesn't waver," Meeks said. "Whatever she does, she's the same person on and off the field. It gets hard when everyone is trying to pitch around her, but she stays calm."
An RBI triple from Emmaleigh Theriot (Prairieville, La.; St. Amant) and a Meadows groundout in the fourth made it 16-0. EMCC scored twice in the inning, but Garcia closed out the 16-2 win in the fifth.
Garcia allowed two runs on three hits over five innings, striking out six.
Fondren paced the Wildcats, going 3-for-3 with three runs and five RBIs. Eaves and Woodward also recorded three hits apiece.
NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to Wildcat Stadium Tuesday for a 4/6 p.m. doubleheader against rival Gulf Coast.
TICKETS
Season and single-game tickets are on sale now at PRCCAthletics.com/Tickets.
TUNE IN
All home Pearl River baseball games are livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com/Gold. Fans with Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV devices can also watch the Wildcat broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" channel from their app stores.
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