CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College softball team hung on to win a wild series opener from Christian Brothers, 9-8, on Saturday night at the MC Softball Complex.

The Lady Choctaws improved to 22-11 and 13-8 in Gulf South Conference, while the Lady Bucs dropped to 7-29 and 1-21 in the league.
 

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HOW IT HAPPENED

- The Lady Choctaws scored the game's first run in the opening inning as senior Katherine Lee led off with a walk, stole second and scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Carly Crawford.
- Lee would add two more runs in the second inning with an RBI single that scored junior Makenzie Nieto and sophomore Shayla McKissock.
- Junior Brianna Caldwell hit her 10th home run of the season in the third inning, bringing home Crawford to give the Lady Choctaws a 5-0 advantage.
- MC appeared to be cruising along until the Lady Bucs took advantage of three errors in the sixth inning to score four times and cut the lead to just one.
- The Lady Choctaws responded in their half of the sixth as freshman Kayla Murphy drove in a run with a squeeze but to make the score 6-4.
- Crawford came up big with a two-out single down the right field line to score McKissock and make the lead 7-4.
- CBU would come right back in the top of the seventh and tie the game at 7-7 when Maddi Welch hit a three-run home run to center field.
- They would grab their first lead of the night as Jenna Cotter's single scored Olivia Parsels and made it 8-7 CBU.
- In the bottom of the seventh, Nieto led off with a double to the left field wall, and freshman Jessica Aron singled to left field, putting runners on second and third with one out.
- Junior Alexia Harmon drove in the game-tying run with a sac bunt to score Nieto, putting runners on first and third with still just one out.
- On the very next pitch, Harmon broke to steal second and an errant throw led to Aron scoring the game-winning run.
 

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KEY STATS
- Nieto led the Lady Choctaws with three hits on the night, including two doubles and two runs scored.
- Crawford, Caldwell and Harmon also had multi-hit nights, while Lee, Crawford and Caldwell drove in a pair each.
- Cori Cooper (8-1) got all 21 outs in the circle for MC, allowing six hits and two earned runs with eight strikeouts and just one walk.
- Amber Johnson led the CBU offense with three hits, while Cotter had two hits and three RBI.
- Cotter (3-12) took the loss in the circle, tossing 4.1 innings of relief and giving up 10 hits and five earned runs.
 

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NEXT UP
- The two teams will wrap up the series on Sunday with a doubleheader at noon at the MC Softball Complex.
 

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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.