ICC ready for MACJC Tournament at Jones JC
FULTON – The brackets for the 2017 Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges State Softball Tournament are set with four of the country’s top nine teams set to battle for this year’s conference tournament championship.
Jones County Junior College will be the site for the double-elimination tournament, opening on Friday and concluding with the championship series on Sunday.
No. 6 ICC (38-10-1) advance to the tournament after sweeping East Mississippi Community College (18-27) in the opening round best-of-three series. The Indians will open the tournament against No. 7 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (37-10) at 4 p.m. No. 1 Jones County (44-2) will face off against No. 9 East Central Community College (42-6) at 6 p.m. Friday.
The two winners from Friday will meet at 1 p.m. and the two Friday losers will meet in an elimination game at 3 p.m. Saturday. A second elimination game featuring the 1 p.m. loser and 3 p.m. winner will start at 5 p.m.
The championship game will be at 1 p.m. on Sunday. If necessary, the second championship game will follow after a short break.
Admission to the tournament will be $5 per day for the general public. Only MACJC passes will be accepted. Tournament t-shirts will be available for $15 each.
The top three teams from the tournament along with No. 4 LSU-Eunice (41-9) will advance to the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 23 Tournament at the site of the MACJC State Tournament winner.
The two teams advancing Sunday’s championship series will receive automatic bids to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament May 17-20 in Clinton.
ICC 5, EMCC 1
FULTON – Freshman pitcher Caroline Dickins scattered six hits and gave up one earned run to help lead the No. 6 Itawamba Community College softball team to a victory over East Mississippi Community College on Saturday.
The Indians, who defeated East Mississippi 9-6 on Friday, advanced to the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges State Tournament.
ICC (38-10-1) got on the board in the top of the second inning when Bre Harford singled and scored on a double by Madison Carnes before hanging three runs on the board in the third to take a 4-0 advantage.
McKenzie Piper drew a walk and advanced to third when Kaitlyn Rhodes reached on a fielder’s choice. Harford ripped a two-out single by the third baseman to plate Piper before Mary Kansas Sullivan delivered a double to push across Rhodes and Harford.
The Lions (18-27) got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Ashley Vickers raced home before Mallory Vance was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double to end the inning.
Up 4-1, ICC answered with a run in the top of the sixth when Cori Childs), who entered to run for Harford, scored when she beat the throw home on a successful squeeze bunt by Carnes to take a 5-1 lead into the final frame.
Harford went 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored, and a RBI while Dickins improved to 13-4 with the win.