By By Rocky Higginbotham/The Meridian Star
March 7, 2001
It took them quite a while to finally get a game under their respective belts, but East Central and East Mississippi Community College are now officially in the fast-pitch softball world.
EMCC hosted ECCC Monday in a doubleheader that was a makeup of contests previously rained out; then East Central entertained Scooba Tech Tuesday afternoon in Decatur.
The Monday games were the first-ever fast-pitch contests for both schools, while the Tuesday games saw freshman standout Emily Casey of Union threw a pair of gems at the visiting Lady Lions, helping East Central to 5-2 and 9-0 wins after splitting on Monday.
Casey, in addition to allowing just the two runs, improved her mark to 3-1 with just one walk on the day.
Two of those defensive plays were inning-ending double plays. One was a tag-out at the plate off an outfield assist, with East Central then throwing to second to nail another runner. The other DP was a line drive to shortstop Holly Turner, who doubled a Lady Lion runner off first base.
Monday: In the first twinbill at Scooba Monday, East Central won the first game 5-2 behind Casey, but the host Lady Lions took a 10-8 slugfest in the nightcap.
In Game One, Sommer Averett another freshman from Union had two hits, as did Turner, a former South Choctaw Academy standout.
Austyn Gordon had a triple for EMCC, while Kathrine Hinton took the loss on the hill.
In Game Two, East Central led 8-2 going into the bottom of the third before the Lady Lions rallied. In fact, EMCC was still down 8-6 when Casey took the hill late in the contest and the Lady Lions rallied with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Casey was charged with the loss, while Hinton took the win.
Kayla Murphy had a single and double, while Gordon a former Northeast Lauderdale standout had two singles.
Ex-West Lauderdale star Randi Little also had two hits for EMCC, as did Jessica Vaughn and Shannon Brown.
Next up: East Central visits Mississippi Delta on Thursday for a pair of games, while East Mississippi isn't scheduled to play again until next week.
EMCC Baseball
Jones 3, EMCC 2: EMCC dropped a heartbreaker Tuesday when Jones' Jeff Rowland hit a three-run blast off of Lion reliever Steve Oglesby in the bottom of the eighth inning lifting the Bobcats out of a 2-0 hole.
EMCC, which had led since taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning, couldn't find the answer in the ninth as it suffered the loss.
The Lions, who hadn't seen action since the Rush Invitational, used five pitchers in the contest, and EMCC head coach Bill Baldner said for the most part he was pleased with their performances.
The Lions fell to 1-7 on the year with the loss, but according to Baldner things haven't been as bad as the record indicates.
Rocky Higginbotham is the sports editor of The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rhigginbotham@themeridianstar.com.