Montgomery Tosses Shutout as No. 10 Indians Split with Meridian

MERIDIAN, Miss. - No. 10 Indians rode a complete-game gem from Ramsey Montgomery in the opener and finished the day with a split on the road Saturday against Meridian Community College.

Game 1: No. 10 Indians 4, Meridian 0

The opener belonged to Montgomery.

With every zero she put on the board, the Indians kept tightening their grip on the game, and the offense gave her just enough room to control it from start to finish in a 4-0 shutout win.

The Indians struck first in the opening inning when Kaylin Lynch reached on a fielder's choice that brought Victoria Fields home for a 1-0 lead. That early run was all Montgomery needed, but the Indians kept adding on.

In the fifth, Fields lined a double to center to score Neely Hodum and stretch the margin to 2-0. An inning later, the Indians created more separation. Alana Dossey lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Ella Duhon, then Taylar Shands followed with a single to right to bring Emarie Boddie home and make it 4-0.

That was more than enough support for Montgomery, who worked a complete-game shutout and never let Meridian find a way into the game.

Fields and Shands led the offense with two hits each as the Indians set the tone early and never let it slip.

Game 2: Meridian 7, No. 10 Indians 3

The nightcap turned early, and the Indians spent the rest of the game trying to chase it down.

Meridian pushed across a run in the first, then broke the game open in the third. A defensive miscue brought home three runs before another single added one more, giving the Eagles firm control. A solo home run in the fourth added to the cushion and left the Indians playing from behind the rest of the way.

Fields doubled to score Dossey and AB Marlar singled to plate Fields in the fifth. Zoe Goodman blasted a double to push home Macie Starling with two outs in the seventh.

Skylar Partlow, Marlar and Fields each collected two hits, but Meridian's early surge proved too much to overcome.