MONTGOMERY, Ala. --- The Mississippi College erased an early deficit on their way to a 4-2 win over Auburn Montgomery to open a three-game series on Friday night at the AUM Softball Complex.
The Lady Choctaws improved to 23-6 with a 9-3 Gulf South Conference mark, while the Warhawks fell to 27-7 with a league record of 7-6.
TURNING POINT
>> The eventual game-winning run was driven in by senior
Kristen Qualls, who singled up the middle to score freshman
Annemarie Peavy and make the score 3-2 in the 5th inning.
HOW IT HAPPENED
>> The Warhawks scored the first run of the game in the first inning as they took advantage of a pair of MC errors and grabbed an early 1-0 advantage.
>> MC picked up their first lead of the night in the fourth as juniors
Shayla McKissock and
Morgan Bradford led off with singles and crossed the plate on an AUM error to make the score 2-1.
>> The Warhawks knotted the game up in their half of the fourth with another unearned run, but freshman
Hannah Creel stranded the bases loaded to keep the score tied at 2-2.
>> MC grabbed the lead for good in the fifth inning with Qualls' RBI single to score Peavy after she doubled to lead off the inning.
>> They would add an insurance run in the sixth as McKissock doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch before a sacrifice fly by junior
Carly Crawford made the score 4-2.
>> Creel was stellar down the stretch retiring nine straight to end the game and give the Lady Choctaws a win in the series opener.
KEY STATS
>> Creel (10-1) gave up just three hits and two unearned runs on the night, striking out two batters with two walks.
>> MC had eight hits in the contest, led by McKissock with three base-knocks.
>> Qualls also had a multi-hit game, while McKissock scored a team-high two runs.
>> Michaelyn Foster scored both of AUM's runs, while the 3-4-5 hitters each had hits in the contest.
>> Foster (11-2) took just her second loss of the season, allowing eight hits and two earned runs with two strikeouts and one walk.
GAME NOTES
>> In just the third meeting between the two schools, MC picked up their first-ever victory over the Warhawks.
>> Qualls' game-winning RBI single gives her 134 career runs driven in, which is just one behind the all-time school record of Brooke Smitherman (2011-15).
NEXT UP
>> The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday to wrap up the series at noon at the AUM Softball Complex.
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 contact
David Nichols at 601-925-3234 or
nichols@mc.edu.
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