EMCC Lions set for softball conference opener with Saturday home doubleheader vs. East Central

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College's softball team is set for Saturday's start of MACCC play after earning a doubleheader split at Shelton State during Monday's non-conference action. The Lions bounced back from a 9-1 run-rule setback in the opening game to claim a 4-0 nightcap victory over the Lady Bucs.

The start of Saturday's conference-opening home doubleheader versus East Central has been moved up a couple of hours to an 11 a.m. first pitch due to forecasted rain expected to move through the area later in the day.

Head coach Mackenzie Byrd's EMCC Lions will begin conference competition with an 8-8 overall record in non-conference play following their twin-bill split at Shelton State earlier in the week. The eight wins include a pair of doubleheader sweeps over Coastal Alabama-North as well as a home sweep over Missouri-based Moberly Area CC.

After being limited to four hits and slowed by three errors defensively during Monday's opening game at Shelton State, EMCC received a shutout pitching performance from sophomore left-hander Savannah Mitchell in the nightcap. The California native via Northeast Mississippi Community College scattered six singles over seven innings of work to improve to a team-leading 4-1 on the season.

The Lions supplied all the runs Mitchell would need in their first at-bat of the nightcap. After consecutive singles by Devin Bourgeois and Olivia Saucier to open the game, Savannah Fralix's run-scoring fielder's choice was followed by a two-out, two-run homer by Hanna Boleware.

EMCC added an insurance run in the third inning when Madison Newburn led off with a double and later came around to score on Chaley Peterson's two-out RBI single.

For the game, Saucier had three singles in four plate appearances to lead the Lions' nine-hit team effort. Boleware added a sixth-inning single to go along with her third home run of the year in the opening frame.

During Monday's first game, the home-standing Lady Bucs capitalized on four bases on balls allowed by EMCC starting pitcher Allee Bennett as well as benefitting from a trio of fielding errors by the Lions in the third inning to produce all the run support they would need. Marleigh McWilliams' two-out, three-run double keyed Shelton State's four-run first inning, while Anna Valentine's two-out, two-run double capped the five-run third frame.

EMCC's lone run in the opening game at Shelton State came on Blayne Sturgeon's RBI double that scored Boleware, who had walked to lead off the second inning.

For the season, the Lions are currently hitting .315 as a team with seven starters hitting .300 or better on the year. Fralix, a sophomore from Haleyville, Ala., leads the way for EMCC in virtually every offensive category, including average (.457), home runs (4), RBIs (19), on-base percentage (.480) and slugging percentage (.783).

With 15 home runs as a team through the year's first 16 games, EMCC's Bourgeois, Boleware and sophomore third baseman Madison Newburn closely follow Fralix with three homers apiece on the season.

Along with Mitchell's team-best 4-1 pitching record in 10 appearances, Bennett is 3-4 with a team-most eight starts in the circle for EMCC.