By By Matt Barrett/staff writer
Frb. 23, 2002
Meridian Community College dropped two-of-three games to highlight play during Friday's first day of the Rush Hospital/Meridian Community College Fast-Pitch Softball Tournament at the Northeast Softball Complex.
Action in the eight-team, round-robin type tournament resumes today at 8:30 a.m. with the last round of games beginning at 2:30 p.m.
MCC plays Chipola (Fla.) Junior College at 8:30 a.m, Motlow (Tenn.) State Community College at 10:30 a.m. and at 2:30 p.m. squares off with powerful Okaloosa-Walton (Fla.) Community College.
The Lady Eagles started the tournament with a 2-1 victory over San Jacinto (Texas) Community College. Meridian's Stephanie Dixon hit a double in the opening inning to score Lindsey Stamm for the first Lady Eagle score. San Jacinto answered with a single run in the inning . The two teams went into the seventh inning tied 1-1. Dixon hit her second double of the day to score teammate Ashley Cofield for the 2-1 Meridian win.
The Lady Eagles suffered their first loss of the tournament to Blinn College out off Brenham, Texas by the score of 6-2 . The Lady Eagles started off the game on top with a Dixon hit that scored Dreka Shumpert. Blinn scored two runs in the third inning off a pair of Lady Eagle errors and a home run. Dixon hit a double in the inning to drive in Shumpert. Meridian entered the sixth inning tied 2-2. The Lady Eagles struggled on the mound late in the game. The Lady Buccaneers capitalized on the opportunity scoring four runs in the final inning.
Meridian ended it's day with a 7-5 loss in the cold to Young Harris (Ga.) College. The Lady Eagles scored first with a sacrifice bunt from Morgan Wright that scored Shumpert. Dixon scored the final Lady Eagle run of the inning with an error on the Young Harris catcher. The winners answered with a single run in the inning. In the third Inning, Lady Eagle Layla Brewer's double sent Wright and Shumpert in to put Meridian on top 4-1 going into the bottom of the third. YHC scored one run in the inning off an Meridian error and another from a walk. The Lady Eagles' final run came in the fourth inning. Amanda Stricklin scored Cofield for the 5-5 tie. YHC's two final runs gave it the 7-5 victory.
In other games on the day, Central Alabama beat Chipola 6-0, Okaloosa-Walton beat Motlow 16-9, Young Harris beat Blinn 4-3, Chipola nipped Motlow 2-1, Central Alabama beat OWCC 6-4, Motlow blanked Central Alabama 4-0, San Jacinto defeated Young Harris 5-0 , OWCC edged San Jacinto and Chipola remained undefeated with a 6-1 win over Blinn.