CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College softball team will head out of conference for a Tuesday doubleheader when they play Miles College on May 19th at the Miles Softball Field. The teams will start the twin-bill at 2:00 p.m. just outside of Birmingham in Pleasant Grove, Ala.
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SERIES INFORMATION
MATCHUP: #23 Mississippi College (20-6, 8-3 GSC) at Miles (2-21, 1-4 SIAC)
TIME: Tuesday, March 19th - 2:00 pm (DH)
LOCATION: Pleasant Grove, Ala. || Miles Softball Field
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THE SERIES
>> The two teams have met nine previous times with MC coming away with nine victories. The Lady Choctaws won both contests at Miles last year, outscoring the Golden Bears 18-3 in the doubleheader.
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#23 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE (20-6, 8-3 GSC)
ROSTERÂ ||Â Â SCHEDULEÂ ||Â Â STATS
>> The Lady Choctaws are led by 13th-year head coach
Brooke O'Hair, who won her 350th career game on Wednesday (Feb. 13) with a 5-0 victory over Kentucky State. She is already the winningest coach (362 wins) in school history and has the top winning percentage (.622) among the school's five head coaches.
>> The Lady Choctaws are coming off a three-game road sweep of Lee last weekend that saw them nearly double their home run total for the year with six long balls in the series. Senior
Brianna Caldwell hit three of the home runs, while freshmen
Grace Hahn and
Gracie Trahan hit their first career shots in the series.
>> MC had 17-of-34 hits go for extra bases against the Flames, recording a slugging percentage of .730 as a team. Senior
Makenzie Nieto hit .600 with three doubles and a triple, while senior
Alexia Harmon hit .636 with four RBI and five runs scored.
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MILES (2-21, 1-4 SIAC)
ROSTERÂ ||Â SCHEDULEÂ ||Â STATS
>> The Golden Bears, out of Fairfield, Ala., are coming off a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference cross over tournament in Jasper, Ala. that saw them go 1-4 with the win being a 15-0 victory over Paine College. They have already faced nine other Gulf South Conference opponents, going 0-12 against one of the toughest conferences in all of Division II softball.
>> As a team, Miles is hitting .207 with 52 runs scored in 21 games. Zakierra Webb (.345) is the team's leading hitter with two doubles and a team-high 11 RBI, while Kristie Looney (.324) and Davis Watkins (.319) are also hitting over .300 this season. The three have combined to steal 45 bases in 54 attempts through the first 21 contests.
>> The pitching staff has combined to post a 10.25 earned run average, with opponents hitting .374 against them. Magen Rich (1-9) leads the team with 7.96 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 60.2 innings pitched. Chynna Gross (1-7) has collected the other victory for the Miles pitching staff.
>> The team has also posted a .922 fielding percentage with 40 errors in 21 games. They have turned 18 double plays on the year with Stephanie Roper taking part in six of them.
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GAME NOTES
TOUGH SCHEDULE
The Lady Choctaws are scheduled to play 29 teams that combined to post a record of 821-689 (.544) in 2018, including four teams that finished the season ranked in the top 12 in the final NFCA rankings. They wiil play defending national champion Southern Indiana (#1), Saint Leo (#5), North Georgia (#3) and Illinois Springfield (#12). USI, SLU and UNG all made it to the College World Series.
BRINGING OUT BOOM STICKS & BROOM STICKS
The Lady Choctaws nearly doubled their home run total from the first 23 games of the season in a three-game sweep of Lee University on the road last weekend. MC hit six long balls over the series, including three coming from senior
Brianna Caldwell, who now has four on the season. The freshman duo of
Gracie Trahan and
Grace Hahn each hit their first career home runs in the 12-2 win on Saturday.
The series began with the Lady Choctaws erasing an early 2-0 lead to grab a 7-2 win as junior
Carly Crawford hit her fourth home run of the season and drove in four runs. In the second game, MC exploded for 13 hits, including seven extra-base knocks, in the 12-2 victory. The finale saw Caldwell hit two home runs and senior
Makenzie Nieto driving in the game-winning run with a double in the 7th for a 7-6 victory.
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK, AGAIN
Freshman
Hannah Creel earned her second GSC Softball Freshman of the Week honor for her efforts in the sweep of #5 Valdosta State. The rookie allowed just three hits with four strikeouts and no walks in a complete game effort against the Blazers. She also earned the award after tossing 14 innings with just four earned runs allowed and 16 strikeotus against West Georgia.
HOW WE STACK UP
The Lady Choctaws rank 3rd in the Gulf South Conference in earned run average (2.10) and are 6th with 144 total strikeouts over the pitching staff. MC is also 3rd in the league in walks allowed with just 43.
The Lady Choctaws are also 5th in batting average (.303), ranking 2nd with 12 triples and 3rd with 69 stolen bases. MC is 9th in the league in fielding percentage (.949), making 40 errors in 26 games.
WE WERE MERELY FRESHMEN
The 2019 Lady Choctaws have five players that opened their careers in 2016 with an NCCAA National Championship in Troutville, Va.
Alexia Harmon,
Shelby Miller,
Penny Nichols,
Makenzie Nieto and
Kristen Qualls were all a part of the first women's team in MC history to win a national title. The Lady Choctaws cruised through the NCCAA World Series, allowing just 10 runs and scoring 46. They closed out the historic run with a shutout victory over Belhaven that saw only two Blazer baserunners even reach second base against Carlie Sargent.
NEW FACES ALL OVER THE PLACE
The Lady Choctaws welcome 11 newcomers to the 2019 squad, including five freshman and six transfers. Junior
Morgan Bradford (Southern Union State CC) and freshman
Hannah Creel (Bowling Green School) were named to the GSC's Top Newcomer List. The newcomers are from four different states, including Georgia (Bradford,
Hayden Claypool), Louisiana (
Ashley Elsensohn,
Paige Hulin,
Annemarie Peavy,
Gracie Trahan), Mississippi (Creel,
Kendal Daniels,
Abbey Salvo) and Texas (
Baylee Freudenberg,
Grace Hahn).
HOME RUN QUEENS
Junior
Kristen Qualls became MC's all-time home run leader with her 28th long ball on Friday (April 13) against #22 UAH. The home run came with two outs in the seventh inning to tie the score at 6-6. The former Madison Central standout broke the record of 27 home runs held by Brooke Smitherman (2011-15). Qualls also ranks 2nd in school history with 125 runs batted in, just 10 shy of Smitherman (135).
Brianna Caldwell set a single-season record with 14 home runs in 2018. She would set the record with a pair of long balls in the GSC Tournament against Montevallo. It was Caldwell's second time to hit two home runs in a game, also sending two out on February 24th against West Georgia. Her 18 home runs in 2018 already has her 4th in school history for career long balls.
EYE ON THE RECORD BOOKS
There are other Lady Choctaws that are on pace to make their mark on the MC Softball record books, starting with senior
Alexia Harmon, who has played in 176 career games. The record for games played is currently held by
Megan Everett (2014-17), who saw action in 209 contests. The former Madison Central standout also sits in the top 15 in school history in at-bats, hits, runs scored, doubles, runs batted in, total bases, hit-by-pitches, stolen bases and stolen base attempts.
Qualls, Harmon's teammated at MCHS, is also set to rise up the lists, sitting in the Top 15 in games played, slugging percentage, at-bats, hits, runs batted in, total bases, base on balls and hit-by-pitches.
LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!
The 2019 campaign features several unique mascots for the Lady Choctaws as they will face 30 teams with 25 different personalities. The most common mascot opponent for MC will be the Tigers (Ouachita Baptist, Tuskegee and West Alabama), followed by the Bearcats (McKendree and Northwest Missouri State), Lions (Saint Leo and Missouri Southern State) and Tritons (Eckerd and Missouri-St. Louis).
DEFENDING GSC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS
The Mississippi College softball team are the last time to win the Guf South Conference Tournament championship game after the 2018 tournament was cut short due to weather. In their first full year of eligibility in Division II and the GSC, the Lady Choctaws capped off a perfect run with an 18-5 win over the hosts UAH in the championship game.
Kristen Qualls was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, while
Carly Crawford,
Megan Everett,
Adrianna Morgan and
Haley Thompson joined her on the All-Tournament Team.
NEW STAFF
The Lady Choctaws welcome a pair of new staffers in 2019 as
Roland Rodriguez joins as an assistant coach and
Kasey Cox will be the graduate assistant. Rodriguez has recently been the head softball coach at Millsaps and Ozarks, while Cox just wrapped up her playing career at Tennessee State.
ALL-GSC RETURNERS
The Lady Choctaws return a pair of All-GSC performers from 2018 in junior
Carly Crawford and senior
Cori Cooper. Crawford earned a First Team nod for the second straight season after hitting .341 with seven doubles, four home runs and 26 RBI. Cooper earned Second Team laurels after going 11-3 with a 2.66 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 94.2 innings.Â
PRESEASON ALL-GSC
The 2018 Preseason All-GSC Softball Team was voted on by the head coaches. Positions were not a factor, and coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players. Senior
Brianna Caldwell and junior
Carly Crawford were named to the team after both earning a spot on the GSC All-Tournament Team in 2018. Caldwell (.333) set a school record with 14 home runs in 2018, while Crawford (.341) was selected to the All-GSC First Team for the second consecutive year.
GSC PRESEASON POLL
The Lady Choctaws were predicted to finish third in the Gulf South Conference preseason poll, following a vote by the league's head coaches. MC also picked up two first-place vote after finishing fourth in the 2018 final standings. Alabama Huntsville was predicted to win the conference after advancing to the Division II Super Regionals last season. The top four teams in the conference were only separated by 29 total points and all receivied first-place votes.
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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 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 contactÂ
David Nichols at 601-925-3234 orÂ
nichols@mc.edu.Â
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