CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College softball team will wrap up the 2019 regular season with a three-game series against rival Delta State. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday (3:00 pm) with a single game on Sunday (2:00 pm) at the MC Softball Complex.
SERIES INFORMATION
MATCHUP: #25 Mississippi College (36-11, 17-8 GSC) vs. Delta State (21-21, 11-16 GSC)
TIME: Saturday, April 27th - 3:00 p.m. (DH) || Sunday, April 28th - 2:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Clinton, Miss. || MC Softball Complex
THE SERIES
>> The two schools have met 77 previous times with MC holding a 42-35 edge in the series. Last season, MC took 2-of-3 games in Cleveland and swept the Lady Statesmen the last time they played in Clinton, outscoring DSU 16-4 over the three games.
MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE (36-11, 17-8 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 (378 wins) in school history and has the top winning percentage (.627) among the school's five head coaches.
>> Following the series finale, the Lady Choctaws will recognize nine seniors participating in their final games at the MC Softball Complex.
Brianna Caldwell,
Cori Cooper,
Alexia Harmon,
Shelby Miller,
Adrianna Morgan,
Penny Nichols,
Makenzie Nieto,
Kristen Qualls and
Macy Riley will be honored on Sunday afternoon.
>> The Lady Choctaws, out of Clinton, Miss., have won 11-of-12 games in the month of April, following a home series loss to Montevallo, who has given them their only two losses of the season at the MC Softball Complex. MC swept a doubleheader from Miles on Wednesday, giving them a 19-3 non-conference record for the 2019 season. They opened the day with a 12-0 run-rule victory before coming back for the 6-4 win in the nightcap.
>> MC is currently sitting in 3rd in the GSC standings and have the opportunity to move up to No. 2 or fall to No. 4 following the final weekend of play. This weekend, the Lady Choctaws will play their final home games, where they have gone 19-2 with 11 shutouts. Senior
Cori Cooper has been especially good in home games, going 8-1 with a 0.61 ERA, allowing just five earned runs over 57.1 innings with 84 strikeouts.
>> Junior
Carly Crawford (.354) has the team's top batting average and also leads the squad in doubles (14), home runs (7) and RBI (39). Freshman
Annemarie Peavy (.351) is just behind in those categories with 13 doubles, five home runs and a team-high four triples.
>> Junior
Morgan Bradford (.339) went 4-for-4 in the doubleheader sweep of Miles, and she boosted her batting average over 20 points in the two wins, including hitting her first triple of the season. Senior
Alexia Harmon (.310) ranks 3rd on the team in hits (45), doubles (12) and runs scored (32).
>> Cooper (11-7, 1.53 ERA) leads the GSC in earned run average and strikeouts per seven innings (9.6). Opponents are hitting just .180 against the senior, which is the second-best mark in the league. Freshman
Hannah Creel (16-3, 1.90 ERA) is tied for the league-lead in victories and ranks 5th in strikeouts (116).
DELTA STATE (21-21, 11-16 GSC)
ROSTER || SCHEDULE || STATS
>> The Lady Statesmen, out of Cleveland, Miss., are battling for one of the final spots in the GSC Tournament as they play their final series of the weekend. They are currently tied for the No. 8 seed with Montevallo, who plays against UAH in a three-game series this weekend. Union and West Georgia are just ahead of DSU by one game with the Bulldogs playing Christian Brothers and the Wolves playing Valdosta State.
>> Led by 11th-year head coach Casey Bourgoyne-Charles, the Lady Statesmen will step onto the field for the first time since Monday, April 15th when they face the Lady Choctaws. They were swept at home by West Alabama in a three-game series, dropping a pair of one-run games before losing 10-6 in the finale. Overall, they have lost five straight games, but they are a better team away from Cleveland with a 15-10 mark in away or neutral site games.
>> DSU ranks 4th in the Gulf South Conference in fielding percentage (.964), making just 42 errors in 42 games. They also rank 7th in the league in earned run average (3.84) and have allowed a league-low two triples in 2019. DSU ranks 10th in the GSC in batting average (.279), but their 29 home runs is tied with MC for 5th-most in the league.
>> Individually, Kelly Byrd (.398) has been the team's top hitter for two straight years, pacing the squad with a 1.256 OPS and eight home runs, while tying for the team-lead in hits (45) and doubles (12). Jordan Jones (.344) has a team-high 43 RBI and is tied for the team-lead with 12 doubles, as well. Byrd and Jones are the only two regulars to post a batting average above .300 this season.
>> In the circle, Nicole Fullilove (12-12, 3.02 ERA) and Mari Alex Sandridge (7-6, 5.19 ERA) have carried the load, tossing nearly 84% of the team's innings this season. Fullilove leads the team with 17 complete games in 25 starts, striking out 121 batters with just 37 walks. Sandridge has 47 strikeouts and six complete games in 82.1 innings.
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.
A NO-NO FOR CREEL
Freshman
Hannah Creel moved into rarified air among MC pitchers with a no-hitter against Miles College on Tuesday (March 19). 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.
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
For the first time in school history, the Lady Choctaws boast a pitching staff with a pair of hurlers that have topped the 100 strikeout mark. There have only been 11 100-punchout campaigns in MC history (dating back to 1986) and senior
Cori Cooper (151) and
Hannah Creel (116) have turned the trick this season. The Lady Choctaws have also struck out 293 total batters through 48 games, and they will look to be the first team in school history to tally 300 strikeouts.
DROPPING TO NO. 6 IN SOUTH REGION RANKINGS
The second NCAA South Region rankings came out on Wednesday (April 24), and the Lady Choctaws fell from No. 5 to No. 6 after splitting a road doubleheader with West Alabama last weekend. The NCAA region rankings are used to select the at-large berths for the NCAA Tournament, and the champions of the Gulf South Conference, Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Sunshine State Conference will join five at-large teams in the postseason.
GETTING BETTER AT THE RIGHT TIME
The Lady Choctaws are 11-1 in the month of April and have yet to allow more than four runs in a game over the 12 games. That stretch included six shutouts and just nine total errors with seven errorless contests.
HOW WE STACK UP
The Lady Choctaws now have the top earned run average (1.92) in the conference and are second in the league in strikeouts (293). Senior
Cori Cooper (1.53) and freshman
Hannah Creel (1.90) have two of the top six marks in the league while also ranking in the top five in strikeouts with 151 and 116, respectively.
MC is also 3rd in the league in batting average (.309), ranking 2nd in doubles (79), triples (17), runs scored (293) and stolen bases (130).
NEW RBI AND TOTAL BASES CHAMP
Senior
Kristen Qualls set a new MC career RBI record in style with a grand slam in the doubleheader sweep of Union on Wednesday (Mar. 27). The former Madison Central standout went deep in the fifth inning with the bases loaded to give her 139 career runs batted in, breaking the record previously held by Brooke Smitherman (2011-15), who had 135 over her illustrious career. She also holds the all-time total bases mark with 304 after four singles against West Alabama. That record was also taken from Smitherman, who finished her career with 302.
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
Senior
Kristen Qualls became MC's all-time home run leader with her 28th long ball against #22 UAH in 2018. 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).
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 19 home runs 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 206 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.
#MC#
