MELBOURNE, Fla. --- The Mississippi College softball team was eliminated from the NCAA South Regional with a 5-2 loss to Florida Tech in the championship game on Saturday afternoon at Nancy Bottge Field.
The Lady Choctaws (40-16) won a pair of elimination games on Friday in extra innings to advance to Saturday's title game, but the Panthers (42-10) scored three runs in the sixth and five total unanswered runs to get the come-from-behind win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
>> The Lady Choctaws struck first in the opening inning as junior
Shayla McKissock singled and stole second base.
>> She would come home to score on a two-out hit by freshman
Baylee Freudenberg, marking the third time in four games McKissock scored a first-inning run.
>> MC would add another run in the second as McKissock popped another two-out RBI single, this time scoring junior
Morgan Bradford to grab a 2-0 lead.
>> The Panthers, who won their 12th straight game, would get a run back in the bottom of the second with a two-out RBI double.
>> FIT would tie the game in the fourth as they scored an unearned run on a wild pitch.
>> The big blow came in the sixth when the Panthers hit a two-run home run and tacked on another run to grab the 5-2 lead.
>> MC was unable to get a baserunner against FIT starter Melanie Murphy over the final 3.0 innings as she retired 12 straight to end the game.
Â
KEY STATS
>> Freshman
Hannah Creel (17-6) went 5.1 innings in the circle for MC, allowing seven hits and four earned runs.
>> After throwing over 200 pitches in 17.0 innings on Friday, senior
Cori Cooper retired both hitters she faced, including a strikeout against the final batter of her career.
>> McKissock and Bradford each had multi-hit games for the Lady Choctaws and scored both runs for MC.
>> Murphy (25-5) went the distance for FIT, allowing five hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts.
>> Vanessa Rubio went 2-of-3 with the two-run home run for the Panthers, also scoring twice.
>> Shanysse Emerenciana also racked up a pair of hits for FIT.
Â
NEXT UP
>> The Lady Choctaws wrapped up the 2019 season with Saturday's loss and said goodbye to nine seniors wrapping up their careers:
Brianna Caldwell,
Cori Cooper,
Alexia Harmon,
Shelby Miller,
Adrianna Morgan,
Penny Nichols,
Makenzie Nieto,
Kristen Qualls and
Macy Riley.
Â
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
#MC#
