Southwest's softball team hosted No. 13 Itawamba C.C. in a doubleheader Saturday, with the Lady Bears winning Game One, 12-6, and dropping Game Two by a score of 8-3.
Coming off of her no-hitter against Mississippi Delta, Allie Ladnier pitched all but the final out against Itawamba in Game One.
Ladnier pitched 6.2 innings with four strikeouts and five runs allowed against the No. 13 ranked Indians.
Mary Claire Salley pitched 0.1 innings to get the final out of the game.
Itawamba came out hot with two home runs in the first inning to go up 3-0.
Ladnier answered back in the bottom of the first with a solo homer to move the score to 3-1.
Corin Talbot would do the same with a solo home run of her own in the bottom of the third inning to make the score read 3-2.
Another three runs from Itawamba in the top of the fifth would give the Indians a 6-2 lead over the Lady Bears.
Southwest responded in the bottom of the fifth with five runs to regain the lead.
An Alexis Dejean single scored Bailey McLin and Talbot.
Then, a Tristan Allen homer scored Alexis Dejean and North Pike alum Kate Clements to put Southwest up 7-6.
The Lady Bears kept Itawamba scoreless in the next inning, and that was followed by another five Southwest runs to give the Lady Bears a 12-6 lead.
Ladnier homered again to score Madalyn Ashford and Talbot and put the score at 10-6.
Shortly after, Allen also hit her second home run of the game to score Alexis Dejean and move the score to the would-be final of 12-6.
After holding off the Itawamba bats, the Lady Bears would win Game One 12-6 over the No. 13 ranked team in the nation.
Talbot, Dejean and Allen each had three hits. Ladnier had two hits while Clements, Jana Phillips and Madalyn Ashford each had one.
Allen led the team with five RBIs with Ladnier close behind her with four. Dejean had two and Talbot added one.
Ladnier and Allen both had 2 home runs in the game while Talbot had one of her own.
Allen and Talbot each had a double as well.
With her two homers in Game One, Allen reached 13 home runs on the season to break the Southwest single-season record.
Game Two was a close one for six innings but saw Southwest lose 8-3.
Ballard Kraft started on the mound for the Lady Bears and recorded one strikeout and one hit allowed in three innings pitched.
Mary Claire Salley came in for 1.2 innings and recorded three strikeouts of her own.
Corin Talbot also pitched two innings with three strikeouts while only allowing two hits.
Ladnier came in to record the final out for Southwest in the top of the seventh.
All three of Southwest’s runs came in the first inning when an Allen double scored Talbot, Ladnier and Alexis Dejean.
McLin had two hits in game two. Ladnier, Dejean, Clements, Allen and Phillips each had a hit.
Tristan Allen had three RBIs.
“I thought Itawamba culminated a great week of softball for us. To come out 4-2 on the week playing two ranked teams, I thought the team played great all the way through,” head coach Shea Johnson said. “I’m proud of the fight. When you’re in this league and you’re playing perennial power houses like we have, it’s been a great week for Southwest softball. I’m super proud of my kids and coaches and the direction we’ve come.”
Following a six-game week that included two ranked wins, Southwest was ranked No. 19 in the latest NJCAA DII Softball Rankings.
The Lady Bears (22-6, 9-3) take on Hinds at home on Tuesday.
