CLEVELAND, Miss. --- The Mississippi College softball team erased a 6-0 deficit for the second straight game but could not complete the comeback in a 9-8 loss to Delta State on Sunday afternoon at University Field.

The Lady Choctaws (28-15, 19-12 GSC) will clinched the series over the rival Lady Statesmen (26-23, 17-15 GSC) with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, including coming back after trailing 6-0 to pick up an 8-6 win in the nightcap.
 

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HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Lady Statesmen jumped out to a big lead with a five-run first inning, highlighted by a three-run home run from Mari Alex Sandridge.
- They would tack on a run with a solo home run in the second inning and take the 6-0 lead into the fourth inning.
- MC would get things going with four singles in the fourth as juniors Kristen Qualls and Makenzie Nieto drove in runs with base-knocks, cutting the lead to 6-2.
- The Lady Choctaws would get two more in the fifth, taking advantage of three DSU errors as an RBI single from sophomore Carly Crawford made the score 6-4.
- The Lady Statesmen would grow the lead back to 7-4 on a solo home run from Kelly Byrd in their half of the fifth.
- MC kept the momentum rolling, however, in the sixth inning as freshman Kayla Murphy came up with two outs and doubled home a pair of run to tie the score at 7-7.
- Crawford came up and drove in Murphy with a single to give them their first lead of the game going to the bottom of the sixth.
- DSU would respond with back-to-back one-out doubles in the sixth to tie the score, and they would score the eventual game-winning run on a wild pitch with two outs.
- Qualls led off the 7th with a single but the Lady Choctaws could not get the tying run across as they would have to settle for just a series win and not a sweep over their rivals.
 

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KEY STATS
- Five different Lady Choctaws had multiple hits in the contest, led by Murphy, who went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI.
- Crawford also drove in a pair of runs, while senior Katherine Lee would score two in the game.
- Junior Cori Cooper (10-3) took the loss in the circle for MC, allowing four hits and four earned runs with five strikeouts over 4.2 innings.
- Sandridge (3-8) had a pair of hits for DSU and would pick up the win in the circle, getting the final four outs of the game.
 

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NEXT UP
- The Lady Choctaws will defend their 2017 Gulf South Conference Championship as they head to Florence, Ala. for the postseason tournament, beginning on Thursday (May 3). As of the release of this post-game recap, the time of the game, nor the opponent, have been decided.
 

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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.