The Southwest Mississippi Community College Lady Bears picked up two huge division victories Monday as they swept visiting Mississippi Gulf Coast, 6-3 and 7-6.
The Lady Bears climbed to 17-15 overall and 6-8 in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College South Division.
Gulf Coast, ranked ninth in the latest National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association poll, fell to 28-8 and 12-4.
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the third inning of the opener, the Lady Bears tied the score in the bottom of the frame when Roxanne Lock reached base on a two-out single and later scored on a Maggie Jackson single.
Southwest went ahead 5-1 in the fourth inning when Hali Sasser singled with the bases loaded to score Lindsay Clark. Two Gulf Coast errors on the same play allowed Nikki Foster, Kaitlyn Perry and Sasser to also score.
Two hits, a Southwest error and wild pitch allowed the Lady Bulldogs to tally two runs in the top of the fifth, but a Maggie Dunaway home run for Southwest in the bottom of the fifth ended the scoring.
Gulf Coast loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh inning, but was unable to punch any runs across the plate.
Perry recorded a double and single for Southwest, while Clark had two singles. Foster and Whitney Moore also hit safely, with Dunaway adding a single to her home run.
Ashlyn Grisaffe went the distance to record the win. She allowed five hits and struck out two.
In the finale, the Lady Bears held a 4-0 lead after two innings. With the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning, Sasser and Roxanne Lock scored on two Gulf Coast throwing errors and Moore scored on a Dunaway groundout.
In the second inning, Christina Hollins-Campbell led off with a double and, two batters later, scored on a Sasser groundout.
Gulf Coast put together three hits in the top of the third inning to score its first run. It added four more in the fourth inning for a 5-4 lead.
The big blow in the frame was a Julie Mercer’s two-out, three-run home run.
The Lady Bears reclaimed the lead in their half of the fourth. Moore reached on a two-out error, Jackson singled and Dunaway walked to load the bases. Clark then blasted a triple to right field to score all three for a 7-5 lead.
A Southwest error allowed the potential tying run to come to the plate for Gulf Coast in the top of the sixth. The tying run would have scored as Mercer sent a Moore pitch sailing toward the left-field fence, but Hollins-Campbell caught the fly ball just before it cleared the fence.
Sarah Smaltz hit a solo home run off Moore to open the seventh inning and cut the margin to 7-6, but three consecutive outs ended the visitors’ hopes of a comeback.
Jackson and Perry both had two singles for the Lady Bears, while Clark added a double and Hollins-Campbell a single. Sasser, Moore and Foster also had hits for Southwest.
Moore earned the win. She struck out five and walked two.
“We needed that (the sweep) bad,” Southwest head coach Patsy Sandifer said. “They’re number nine in the country and we beat them three out of four times. We’re tough to beat if we play solid like this (with) good pitching, hitting and defense. We’re going to give up hits, but we just play solid behind it.”
Southwest continues its six-game homestand at 3 p.m. Wednesday when it hosts Jones County for two.
