HUNTSVILLE, Ala. --- The Mississippi College softball team won the school's first-ever Gulf South Conference softball championship with an 18-5 victory over Alabama Huntsville on Sunday afternoon at Charger Park.
The victory gives MC the automatic qualifying bid to next week's NCAA Division II Regionals. The selection show to find out when and where MC will play next will be at 9:00 am (CT) on NCAA.com.
The Lady Choctaws (34-18) opened the day with an 8-5 come-from-behind victory over West Florida to advance to the title game.
Sophomore
Kristen Qualls was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, joining seniors
Megan Everett and
Haley Thompson, sophomore
Adrianna Morgan and freshman
Carly Crawford on the All-Tournament Team.
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SEMI-FINALS: Mississippi College 8, West Florida 5
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Lady Choctaws fell behind 3-0 after three innings as the Argos (39-13) scored a couple two-out runs in the third to jump out to the early lead.
- MC answered in the fourth inning for the second straight day, scoring six runs to grab the lead for good.
- Crawford got the scoring going with an RBI double, while Everett made the score 3-2 with an RBI single.
- Thompson drove in the eventual game-winning run on a two-RBI single that scored sophomore
Alexia Harmon and Everett.
- Senior
Tylan Buckley capped off the six-run frame with an infield single that scored two runs after a UWF error.
- Qualls, who went 7-for-12 in the tournament with four RBI and five runs scored, including a triple in the game, drove in two more runs in the sixth to push the advantage to 8-3.
- The Argos added a couple runs in the sixth, but MC would hold on for the semi-final victory.
KEY STATS
- Everett led the MC offensive attack with three hits, while the top four hitters in the lineup each had two hits with Qualls and Thompson driving in two runs apiece.
- Junior
Katherine Lee and Everett each scored twice for MC.
- Freshman
Jordan Holifield (6-3) got the win for MC, allowing seven hits and four earned runs over 6.0 innings.
- Junior
Kristen Gardner collected the team's first save of the season, getting the final three outs of the game.
- Becca Taylor (24-8) took the loss for UWF, giving up 10 hits and five earned runs over 3.2 innings.
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CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Mississippi College 18, UAH 5
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Lady Choctaws would explode for five runs in the first inning, highlighted by a two-run double by Everett to score Crawford and sophomore
Makenzie Nieto.
- The Chargers get two runs back in the first on a Kaitlyn Bannister two-run home run, her 20th of the season.
- Crawford doubled home a couple runs in the third inning that saw MC score four more to push the lead out to 9-2.
- Bannister would go deep again in the fifth inning, a three-run shot to right-center field, that would cut the score to 9-5.
- The Lady Choctaws put the game away in the sixth with a 9-run frame, their highest-scoring inning of the season.
- Senior
Lauren Mulligan cleared a loaded bases with a double, driving in all three runs.
- Buckley hit her 9th home run of the season to wrap up the scoring, a two-run shot to make the score 18-5.
- Harmon recorded the final out of the game on a pop-up by Bannister, clinching the school's first-ever GSC tournament title since 1994-95 men's basketball.
KEY STATS
- The Lady Choctaws had a season-high 21 hits, the most in a single game since they put up 22 in a win over Alice Lloyd last season.
- The 18 runs is also the most since scoring 20 in that same victory over Alice Lloyd.
- Eight different Lady Choctaws had multiple-hit games, led by Qualls, Harmon and Everett with three apiece.
- Crawford and Mulligan each had a team-high three RBI, while Qualls and Nieto each scored three runs.
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Adrianna Morgan (9-5) got the win in the circle, allowing five hits and four earned runs over 4.0 innings.
- Gardner finished off the championship by recording the final six outs of the game.
- Emily Glover (16-6) took the loss for UAH, giving up five hits and five earned runs over 0.2 innings.
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NEXT UP
- The Lady Choctaws will head to the NCAA Division II Softball Regionals next week, beginning Thursday at the location to be announced.
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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.
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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.
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For more information on Mississippi College athletics, please contactÂ
David Nichols at 601-925-3234 orÂ
nichols@mc.edu.
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