Softball advances with 9-0 win over Southwest

Softball advances with 9-0 win over Southwest
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS – Freshman Carleigh Mills tossed a one-hit shutout as the No. 7 Itawamba Community College softball team defeated Southwest Mississippi Community College 9-0 in five innings to punch its ticket to the MACJC State Softball Tournament next week at Jones County Junior College.

Leading 1-0, the Indians (39-8) used six hits, including a two-run single from Mamie Hollenhead (Mathiston) to jump out to an 8-0 lead in the fourth inning.

Batting as the visitors, Bree Thompson (Water Valley) led off the inning by drawing a walk and one out later Taylor Thornton (Carrollton) followed on a single. Lane Kennedy's (Smithville) RBI single sent Thompson home before Thornton scored on the third-straight single of the inning by Alex Brown (Pontotoc). Kennedy scored to give the Indians a 4-0 advantage on a RBI single by Kaitlin Bradley (New Hope) before chasing Brown home on a two-run single by Hollenhead.

Hollenhead scored on a perfectly-executed squeeze play by Bre Harford (Southaven) before a throwing error on the play allowed Addie Thompson (Hamilton) to scamper home to give the Indians an 8-0 lead before the Bears (23-21) could get out of the inning.

Bradley connected on her fifth home run of the season to make the score 9-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Mills (15-2) struck out the first two batters of the inning and got a routine ground out to Bradley at short to end the game with the run-rule victory. The right-handed pitcher from Corinth finished the day with nine strike outs, no walks, and only face 17 batters.

Brown, Bradley, Hollenhead, and Addie Thompson each had a pair of hits in the victory as the Indians pounded out 10 hits on the afternoon.

ICC finished the season with a perfect 22-0 home record.

The No. 7 Indians will join host No. 5 Jones County Junior College (39-6), No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (43-3), and East Central Community College (42-7) – who was previously ranked fifth in the nation but dropped from this week's poll due to NJCAA Stat-Entry Policy – in the MACJC State Softball Tournament.

The double-elimination tournament starts on Friday and concludes with the championship games on Sunday. The top three teams from the tournament will travel to No. 1 LSU-Eunice for the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament the following week.

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