Lady Lions remain in first place

By By Jeff Byrd/staff writer
March 24, 2002
SCOOBA A Saturday split left the East Mississippi Community College Lady Lions fast-pitch softball team still in first place in the Mississippi Junior College North Division.
Visiting Mississippi Delta came in and promptly whomped the Lady Lions behind a one-hit shutout by Megan Ray. The 9-0 blanking gave the Lady Trojans a quick hold on first place.
East, however, came back against Ray and the Lady Trojans in the second game rallying from a 4-0 deficit to take game two, 9-4. By earning the split, the Lady Lions surged back into first place in the north division with a 5-1 league mark. Mississippi Delta slips into second at 3-1.
East Mississippi coach Pam Moore was glad to see her team show some resiliency in coming back after being shutdown by Mississippi Delta in game one.
East Mississippi 9
Mississippi Delta 4
Down 4-0, the Lady Lions began the comeback in the third inning. It started with Logan turning on a Ray pitch and depositing it for a alley clearing triple. The hit scored Shannon Brown to make it 4-1.
Logan later scored when Kayla Murphy beat out an infield single cutting the MDCC lead to 4-2.
In the East fourth, the Lady Lions tied it. Jep Vaughn singled and then on a steal of second, came all the way around when the throw from home was booted into centerfield. Two batters later, Kristen McClelland doubled to right center. Brown then singled her home to tie the game at 4-4.
In the East fifth, the Lady Lions loaded the bases with no out following a hit by Natalie Garton, an error and a mis-played fielders choice.
Vaughn then got jammed and hit a grounder back to Ray in the circle. The throw home erased Garton for one out. But the MDCC catcher decided to try and get Vaughn at first. She instead threw the ball over first base and into right field. All three remaining Lady Lions circled in and scored. Delta was unable to recover from the fatal error. East added two more runs in the sixth when McClelland and Brown scored following a RBI grounder by Keely Rutledge and an infield hit by Logan.
Mississippi Delta 9
East Mississippi 0
Ray, out of Baton Rouge, La., was dominant striking out 10 in the 9-0 romp in game one.
She retired the first nine in order, five on strikeouts. By the time East batted in the fourth, they were down 6-0. The Lady Lions loaded the bases in the fourth on an infield hit by Logan, a hit batsman and a fielders choice. Ray came back and struck out the next three in order. "We played just about as well as we could play in the first game," said Walden whose team is now 3-7 on the season.