Monday, March 01, 2010

Pearl River softball loses two in Spring Fling Tournament
Late Friday thunderstorms limits host Lady ’Cats to two games versus LSU-Eunice, Faulkner State

    POPLARVILLE — Host Pearl River Community College dropped both of its games in its annual Spring Fling Tournament held here this past weekend.
    Late thunderstorms cancelled PRCC’s Friday match ups with Itawamba and LSU-Eunice, but LSU-E (substituting for East Mississippi which departed the event early) defeated the Lady Wildcats 8-5 on Saturday, followed by a 3-1 setback to Faulkner State (Ala.).
    Eighth-year Lady Wildcat head coach Leigh White said the fund-raising tournament went well.
    “We padded our coffers, so from that standpoint it was a success, but Friday’s rain messed up our schedule a bit,” she said. “We played a couple of innings against Itawamba when the rain started.”
    PRCC dropped to 7-5 overall with the losses.
    All games in the tournament were limited to one hour and 15 minutes.
    Against LSU-Eunice (16-3), Pearl River went up 1-0 in the bottom of the opening inning when Laurin Locke of Petal High, Baleigh Volking of Enterprise High, and Kaci Mitchell of Petal High all cracked one-out singles to load the bases; setting the stage for an RBI-single by Bethany Russell of D’Iberville High.
    The visiting Lady Bengals answered in the top of the second when Cat Danos led off with an up-the-middle base hit before Leah Andres reached an out later after being belted by a pitch from Lady Wildcat starter Corinne Fraychineaud out of Northshore High in Slidell, La. Danos scored from second to tie it up after Sam Bella reached on an error.
    The Lady Wildcats padded their lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the third when Volking led off with a line-drive single to center and scored off Mitchell’s ensuing triple. LSU-E starter Heather Abshire exited the mound at that point for Lanie Hollier.
    Russell followed with a sacrifice to score Mitchell to make it 3-1, but Mykeal Maes of Hancock County High doubled, Jordan Adams of D’Iberville High singled, and Lacey Freeman of Forrest County AHS walked to load the bases. After Brittney Gary of Slidell (La.) High struck out, Brandy Rester of Poplarville High singled in Maes for the Lady Wildcats’ fourth run.
    The Lady Bengals blew it open in the fourth with a seven-run barrage. Hollier, Danos, and Ashley Parr led off with singles to load the bases, then Andres singled in two to cut PRCC’s lead to 4-3. Sheila Hall out of Dutchtown High in Baton Rouge, La., relieved Fraychineaud at that point and immediately gave up a two-RBI double to Bella to take a one-run lead, then back-to-back base hits by Hayley Sanchez and Karli Wainwright added a sixth run.
    After Katie Ocmand reached on a fielder’s choice, Hall struck out Haley McCall before Hollier smacked a two-run double in her second plate appearance of the frame to make it 8-4.
    Pearl River’s comeback efforts in the bottom of the fifth were futile, but Maes’ lead off double and Adams ensuing single set the stage for a Freeman RBI after reaching on a fielder’s choice to make it as it ended (time limit) 8-5.
    Hollier got the win in relief of Abshire, striking out one and walking one; while Abshire struck out one in her two innings on the mound.
    Fraychineaud (3-1) picked up her first loss of the season in her three innings of action (one hit batter), while Hall struck out two and walked one in relief.
    Hollier paced LSU-E’s 11-hit effort with a double and a single (two RBIs), while Danos had two base hits, Bella doubled (two RBIs), and Andres (two RBIs), McCall, Ocmand, Parr, Sanchez, and Wainwright (one RBI) all singled.
    Volking’s three singles led PRCC’s 13-hit attack, while Mitchell tripled and singled (one RBI), Maes had two doubles, Adams had two singles, Freeman doubled (one RBI), and Locke, Rester (one RBI), and Russell (two RBIs) all had base hits.
    The Lady Bengals committed one error in the game, while the Lady Wildcats had two defensive miscues.
    Against Faulkner State (11-6-1), the Lady Sun Chiefs went up 1-0 to open the game, while Pearl River tied it up in the bottom of the second. FSCC added the game’s final two runs in the top of the fourth. The game ended after four frames due to the time limit.
    Starter Ashley Stokes got the win, while PRCC starter Katie Barrett of Bay High (2-1) got the loss. Both went the four-inning distance.
    FSCC finished with seven hits, led by Rachel Gavin’s two singles, while Brooke Bryan, Lacey Cork, Aubrey Deakle, and Christine Ousley all had doubles. Hayli Casey also had a base hit.
    Pearl River smacked six hits in the loss — all singles — by Blakely Faciane of Slidell (La.) High, Maes, Mallorie Mixon of Picayune High, Rester, Russell, and Volking.
    Pearl River returns to action next week with an extended road trip to north Mississippi, taking on Itawamba in Fulton in a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Thursday and Northwest Mississippi in Senatobia in a 2 p.m. twin bill on Friday. PRCC returns home to Lady Wildcat Stadium Sunday, March 7, to host Hibbing (Minn.) in a 2 p.m. doubleheader before opening its MACJC South Division schedule at Copiah-Lincoln in Wesson Wednesday, March 10 (4 p.m. doubleheader).