CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College softball team opened a three-game series against West Alabama with a 4-2 win on Friday night at the MC Softball Complex.

The Lady Choctaws improved to 25-13 on the year with a a 16-10 Gulf South Conference mark, while the Tigers dropped to 18-27 and 10-18 in the league.
 

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HOW IT HAPPENED
- After three scoreless innings for both teams, junior Brianna Caldwell got the scoring going with her 12th home run of the season to lead off the fourth.
- Freshman Jessica Aron scored the second run of the inning, coming home after junior Alexia Harmon singled and got hung up in a run-down.
- The Lady Choctaws would take the 2-0 lead to the sixth inning, but the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs on three straight singles.
- Pinch-hitter Kylie Martin would single to left field and drive in a pair of run to tie the score and put runners on first and second with still no outs.
- Junior Cori Cooper (9-1) was able to get out of the jam with two of her eight strikeouts and a pop-up to Caldwell.
- MC would answer right back in their half of the sixth as sophomore Carly Crawford reached on a UWA error and pinch-runner Haley Muller moved up to second on a single by junior Kristen Qualls.
- Junior Makenzie Nieto would come up with the biggest hit of the night as her single up the middle with two strikes brought home the eventual game-winning run in Muller.
- Aron would put together a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a sacrifice fly to center field that score Qualls from third.
- The Tigers would double with one out in the seventh, but Cooper got a strikeout and a flyout to end the threat.
 

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KEY STATS
- Cooper tossed her fifth complete game of the season, allowing seven hits and two earned runs with eight strikeouts and two walks.
- Qualls and Nieto each had multi-hit games, while freshman Kayla Murphy, Nieto and Harmon all stole bases.
- Kierra Hague led the Tigers with two hits, while Martin drove in a pair of runs.
- Nora Keehn (4-7) took the loss in the circle, allowing nine hits and two earned runs over 5.2 innings.
 

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NEXT UP
- The teams will meet again on Saturday for a doubleheader at 2:00 p.m. Following the two games, MC will recognize three players that will compete for the final time at the MC Softball Complex (Kristen Gardner, Katherine Lee and Haley Muller).
 

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Mississippi College is a private Christian university located in Clinton, Mississippi with an enrollment of over 5,000 students. MC recently finished their transition process back to NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference and started 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.