PANAMA CITY, Fla. — The No. 11 Pearl River softball team responded from a tough weekend with a bashing of Andrew College Saturday afternoon, winning the game 15-2 to secure a split at the Visit Panama City Beach JUCO Showdown.
PRCC dropped the opener 4-2 to No. 15 Chattanooga State.
"Yesterday, we beat ourselves in both games. In the first game today, we did the same things defensively," head coach Christie Meeks said. "We're going to work really hard on making sure we can find a way to get back up when we get knocked down. We just have to continue to grow. In game two today, we fixed some of the little things and scored a bunch of runs. I was proud of that."
CHATTANOOGA STATE 4, PEARL RIVER 2.
The Pearl River (5-3 overall) defense came up big early in the contest. In the top of the first inning, the Tigers threatened with a runner on third with two outs remaining. Carsyn Mott (Collinsville; West Lauderdale) chased down a fly ball in centerfield to strand the runner on third.
The Wildcats put a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the first frame as Natalee Eaves (Louisville, Miss.; Choctaw Central) drew a six-pitch walk in leadoff and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Chattanooga State (4-3) responded and closed the inning without any damage.
Chattanooga State got on the board first in the top of the third inning. The Tigers led off with a double to right field. A Tiger triple to right field drove in the runner to give CSCC an early 1-0 lead.
Pearl River clawed its way back in the bottom half of the third to tie the game. Eaves singled to center field on a hard ground ball, and Hoffmayer (Ocean Springs) brought her home with a line drive single to left field, 1-1.
A two-run home run by the Tigers in the top of the fourth inning gave Chattanooga State a 3-1 advantage. Rounsaville put the Wildcats in position to answer the Tigers with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Sitting on a full count, she tripled on a line drive to left field and Caitlyn Riche (Walker, La.) brought her in with a single to bring the Wildcats within one, 3-2.
The Tigers took advantage of a couple of Wildcat miscues in the top of the sixth to extend the lead back to two, 4-2.
Pearl River put runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings but could not move the runners across the plate, and the Wildcats dropped a hard-fought contest to Chattanooga State, 4-2.
Rounsaville was solid at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a triple and a run. Hoffmayer finished 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Gracey Harbour (Batesville; South Panola) tossed all seven innings in the circle, scattering four runs and seven hits. She punched out a pair.
PEARL RIVER 15, ANDREW COLLEGE 2.
The Wildcats needed to close out the weekend on a positive note and did just that against Andrew College (0-9). PRCC put a crooked number up in the very first inning of the contest, scoring six runs.
A passed ball and an error by the Fighting Tigers allowed the first two Wildcat runs to score before PRCC added three consecutive hits. Eaves drove a double into the outfield and came around to score on a Caroline Lindsey (Gulfport) triple. Lindsey then crossed the plate on a Maeli Ben (Conehatta; Newton County) single. Another Andrew College error plated the final run of the opening frame.
Lizzie Meeks (Ripley; Pine Grove) faced the minimum in the first inning, striking out the first batter and forcing a double play to erase a one-out walk. The right-hander added two more strikeouts in the second inning to keep Andrew College off the scoresheet.
It was another big frame in the third inning for Pearl River, and it started with the sweet swing of freshman Cailey Pervel (Carriere; Pearl River Central), who blasted a leadoff homer — her first as a Wildcat, 7-0. A walk to Kai Goodman (New Orleans, La.; John Curtis) came back to bite the Fighting Tigers as she scored on an Emmaleigh Theriot (Prairieville, La.; St. Amant) single. Hoffmayer put a ball in play in the following at-bat that Andrew College couldn't handle, which allowed a run to score, 9-0.
Meeks was laser-focused in the third inning. She fired nine straight pitches by the Fighting Tigers for three strikeouts and an immaculate inning. Andrew College finally broke through on Meeks in the fourth inning, plating a pair of runs to slice into the lead, 9-2.
Pearl River responded with its second six-run inning of the day in the top of the fifth to push the game into run-rule territory. A leadoff double from Alexa Womack (Prairieville, La.; Dutchtown) and a Goodman single led to a two-run error by the Fighting Tigers. Then Hoffmayer stepped to the plate and deposited the first pitch thrown to her over the wall in left field for a two-run homer, marking her first long ball of the season. Kirsten Williams (Saucier; West Harrison) added a sacrifice fly, and Pervel added an RBI single to push PRCC ahead 15-2, heading to the bottom of the fifth.
As if Meeks' earlier immaculate inning wasn't impressive enough, she threw her second of the day to close out the game. She fired nine quick pitches to strike out the Fighting Tigers to secure the victory, 15-2.
Meeks earned her first collegiate win, throwing five innings and allowing just two runs on three hits and one walk. She struck out 11 batters.
"Lizzie had a lot of speed in the game," Christie Meeks said. "She was attacking the zone. She did a great job with that."
The hits were spread around for the Wildcats as 13 different hitters earned at-bats. Pervel was the only Wildcat with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Goodman finished with one hit, three walks and four steals.
"Every time Pervel has an opportunity at the plate, something is going to come out of it," Christie Meeks said. "She's going to hit the ball hard somewhere. She just battles and fights. She did that all weekend."
NEXT UP
The Wildcats have a break before heading to Pensacola State on February 18. First pitch in Pensacola, Fla. is set for 3 p.m. The games will be livestreamed on PirateNetwork.live.
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