PENSACOLA, Fla. --- The Mississippi College softball team clinched their opening Gulf South Conference series with a 5-1 win over West Florida on Sunday afternoon at the UWF Softball Complex.

TURNING POINT
- Trailing 1-0 in the top of the third, senior Megan Everett tripled to right center field with two outs and scored the game-tying run on a single by senior Tylan Buckley. Sophomore Kristen Qualls gave MC the lead with a single to center field that led to an Argonaut error, scoring Buckley all the way from first base.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Argonauts (9-3, 1-2 GSC) got on the scoreboard in the first inning as Rhiannon Sassman led off with a double and scored an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Jacey Castro.
- Sophomore Penny Nichols (4-2) did not give up anything else to UWF, tossing her second complete game in as many days to grab the victory.
- The Lady Choctaws (8-6, 2-1 GSC) took the lead in the third inning as Everett, Buckley and Qualls combined to bring across two runs.
- Freshman Brister Curry would add another run in the fourth inning, as she brought home sophomore Alexia Harmon with a sacrifice fly, tallying her first career RBI.
- Sophomore Makenzie Nieto had the big blow of the game in the fifth inning with a two-run home run to center field, her second long ball of the week.
- The Argos would threaten with two hits in the fifth and sixth innings, but Nichols and the MC defense were able to keep the GSC's top offense off the scoreboard.
- In the seventh, UWF put together a couple of one-out singles, but a strikeout and a foul-out ended the series in favor of the Lady Choctaws.

KEY STATS
- Nichols picked up her third complete-game win of the week, going 7.0 innings and scattering nine hits with no earned runs. The Orange City, Fla. native struck out two and walked two, while coaxing 13 groundouts in the contest.
- Five different Lady Choctaws tallied two hits in the game: Everett, Qualls, Nieto, freshman Carly Crawford and junior Katherine Lee.
- Nieto had a team-high two RBI on the two-run home run, while Harmon and senior Lauren Mulligan each tallied sacrifice bunts.
- Meghan Toney led all players with three hits for UWF, while Sassman had two hits and the run scored for the Argonauts.
- Becca Taylor (5-2) took the loss for the Argos, giving up six hits and three runs over 4.0 innings.

NEXT UP
- The Lady Choctaws will be back on the road in conference play next weekend as they face West Alabama in Livingston.
 

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Mississippi College is a private Christian university located in Clinton, Mississippi with an enrollment of over 5,000 students. MC is recently finished their transition process back to NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference and will be competing for conference and national championships in the 2016-17 academic year.
 
The athletic department sponsors 17 intercollegiate athletic programs: Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Football, Golf, Men's and Women's Soccer, Softball, Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field, Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field and Volleyball.
 
For more information on Mississippi College athletics, please contact David Nichols at 601-925-3234 or nichols@mc.edu.