RAYMOND, Miss. --- The Mississippi College softball team opened Gulf South Conference play with a 7-4 win over West Alabama on Friday night at Rene T. Warren Field on the campus of Hinds Community College.

The Lady Choctaws improved to 5-3, while the Tigers fell to 3-7. The series was moved to Warren Field due to wet field conditions at the MC Softball Complex.
 

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HOW IT HAPPENED
  - After the Tigers took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first, the Lady Choctaws responded with four straight hits to open the game and took a 3-1 lead.
  - Freshman Rayne Minor reached on a bunt single and scored on a triple by senior Shayla McKissock, the first three-bagger of the season for MC.
  - Senior Morgan Bradford doubled home McKissock and scored on an RBI single by senior Carly Crawford.
  - Neither team scored in the second, but the Tigers tied things up in the third with three straight two-out hits to make the score 3-3.
  - MC took the lead for good the next inning as Jordan LaFosse singled home Crawford with two outs.
  - The big blow of the game came in the fourth when sophomore Gracie Trahan and McKissock singled in front of a three-run home run from Bradford, the second of her career.
  - UWA scored once and threatened in the fifth, but freshman Avery Barnett came out of the bullpen and shut down the rally to keep the score at 7-4.
  - The Tigers got a couple of runners on in the sixth with no outs, but Barnett got out of another jam to keep the advantage.
  - She shut the door in the seventh to earn her first career save, allowing just a two-out walk in the final inning.
 

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KEY STATS
  - The Lady Choctaws tallied 12 hits with five players notching multi-hit games, including a team-high three from Trahan.
  - The top four hitters in the order went 8-for-12 with six runs scored and six RBI.
  - Bradford paced the offense with a pair of extra-base hits and a career-high four RBI.
  - Hannah Creel (2-2) collected the win in the circle for MC, scattering nine hits with two strikeouts and no walks over 4.1 innings.
  - Barnett struck out five over 2.2 innings, allowing just one hit and two walks.
  - Caleigh Wallace (2-4) took the loss for UWA, giving up seven hits and four earned runs over 3.1 innings pitched.
  - Three Tigers had multi-hit nights with Cassie Matlock notching two with two runs scored.
 

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NEXT UP
  - The teams will wrap up the series on Saturday with a doubleheader at 2:00 p.m. at Rene T. Warren Field.
 

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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 began 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.