CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College softball team will step out of conference to play a Gulf South Conference opponent on Wednesday with a doubleheader against Union University. The doubleheader is set for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch at the MC Softball Complex.
SERIES INFORMATION
MATCHUP: #21 Mississippi College (23-8, 9-5 GSC) vs. Union (22-12, 9-6 GSC)
TIME: Wednesday, March 27th - 3:00 pm (DH)
LOCATION: Clinton, Miss. || MC Softball Complex
THE SERIES
>> The two schools have met 14 previous times with the Lady Choctaws holding an 11-3 edge in the series, including winning five straight and 11-of-12. Last year, MC swept a three-game series from the Bulldogs with a pair of run-rule victories and an 8-7 win that saw
Alexia Harmon hit a walk-off home run.
#21 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE (23-8, 9-5 GSC)
ROSTER || SCHEDULE || 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 (365 wins) in school history and has the top winning percentage (.623) among the school's five head coaches.
>> MC had an eight-game winning streak snapped last weekend with a pair of losses to Auburn Montgomery. The Lady Choctaws opened the series with a 4-2 victory but the Warhawks bounced back with two victories on Saturday. Freshman
Hannah Creel picked up her 10th victory of the season on Friday night, while senior
Cori Cooper struck out a season-high 11 on Saturday.
>> The Lady Choctaws, out of Clinton, Miss., had an eight-game winning streak snapped last weekend at Auburn Montgomery. MC opened the series with a 4-2 road win before the Warhawks bounced back with a pair of victories on Saturday. The Lady Choctaws played at Miles on Tuesday and collected a doubleheader sweep which included a no-hitter from freshman
Hannah Creel.
>> The eight-game winning streak included a pair of GSC series sweeps over Valdosta State and Lee. They had won 14-of-17 games before the losses to AUM with the only losses in that stretch coming to #2 West Florida. MC currently sits in third in the league standings behind UWF and #10 Alabama Huntsville.
>> Junior
Shayla McKissock (.354) is the team's leading hitter with 29 hits and 28 runs scored, also stealing 16-of-18 bases. Junior
Morgan Bradford (.351) is one of just two players to start all 31 games this season, while
Annemarie Peavy (.346) has a team-high .593 slugging percentage with six doubles, four triples and two home runs.
>> Senior
Kristen Qualls (.255) drove in the game-winning run on Friday against AUM, giving her 134 in her career which is just one behind Brooke Smitherman (2011-15) for the MC school record. Junior
Carly Crawford (.319) and senior
Brianna Caldwell (.261) are tied for the team-lead with four home runs apiece.
>> The tandem of senior
Cori Cooper (6-5, 1.64 ERA) and freshman
Hannah Creel (10-2, 1.45 ERA) have handled the pitching duties for MC with injuries taking a toll as of late. Creel leads the team with 10 complete games and three shutouts over 86.2 innings. Cooper has a team-high 78 strikeouts over 59.2 innings.
UNION (22-12, 9-6 GSC)
ROSTER || SCHEDULE || STATS
>> The Bulldogs, out of Jackson, Tenn, have won five straight games, including a road series sweep of Shorter last weekend in Rome, Ga. Union is 13-9 away from home this season after outscoring the Hawks 23-11 over the three games.
>> Led by first-year head coach Mackenzie Sher, the Bulldogs have come into their own over the last 11 games, winning 10 with the only loss coming to Montevallo. Sher spent the last two seasons as an assistant at Mississippi College following a stellar four-year career at the University of Southern Mississippi.
>> The Bulldogs rank 3rd in the Gulf South Conference in batting average (.322), sitting 2nd in home runs (33) and 3rd in doubles (59). They are also 3rd in runs scored (218) and hits (305). Union also ranks 6th in earned run average (4.23) and fielding percentge (.962).
>> Kaitlyn Kelley (.437) leads the team in hitting through the first 34 games, pacing the squad with 14 doubles and 45 RBI. Haley Barnettte (.424) has a team-high 11 home runs, while Sarah Smith (.345) is second on the team with 10 doubles. Alyssa Ward (.312) leads the squad with 14 stolen bases.
>> In the circle, Gabby Morris (8-6, 4.06 ERA) leads the team with 61 strikeouts in 82.2 innings pitched, while Parker Davis (8-6, 4.80 ERA) has tossed a team-high 86.0 innings with 57 strikeouts. Taylor Manley (4-0, 4.13 ERA) has chipped in 39.0 innings this season.
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.
MOVIN' ON UP
The Lady Choctaws have jumped to #21 in the latest NFCA Top 25 Poll, which was released on Wednesday (March 20). MC debuted in the poll last week at #23, marking the first time they have showed up in the rankings since moving back to Division II and the Gulf South Conference in the 2014-15 season. The Lady Choctaws have won 16 of their last 19 games with the only losses coming to #2 West Florida.
STREAK SNAPPED
The Lady Choctaws won eight straight games before dropping both ends of a doubleheader to Auburn Montgomery last weekend. MC opened the series with a 4-2 victory as freshman
Hannah Creel collected her 10th win of the season. The Warhawks came back with two wins on Saturday, holding MC to just four hits and one run over the two contests.
A NO-NO FOR CREEL
Freshman
Hannah Creel moved into rarified air among MC pitchers with a no-hitter against Miles College on Tuesday afternoon. The two-time GSC Freshman of the Week struck out nine batters with no walks and the only baserunner allowed came on an MC error. It was the first no-hitter for a Lady Choctaw since Carlie Sargent turned the trick on April 16, 2016 against UAH.
CREEL NAMED GSC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Freshman
Hannah Creel has been named GSC Pitcher of the Week, it was announced on Tuesday (March 26). The highlight of the week was a no-hitter on Tuesday against Miles, allowing just one baserunner on an error with nine strikeouts and no walks. She went 2-1 with a 0.38 ERA on the week, also picking up a victory against Auburn Montgomery, allowing three hits and two unearned runs to one of the top offenses in the conference.
HOW WE STACK UP
The Lady Choctaws jumped up to 2nd in earned run average (1.91) in the Gulf South Conference after allowing just three earned runs over 19 innings to AUM. The 169 team strikeouts is 4th in the conference, while
Cori Cooper (78) and
Hannah Creel (73) are 5th and 6th, respectively.
MC also sit 5th in the league in batting average (.299), ranking 4th in doubles (52) and 2nd in triples (13). The Lady Choctaws are 9th in fielding percentage (.947) with 45 errors in 31 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.
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.
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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