NACC completes sweep of series between nationally-ranked teams
No. 2 Mustangs take two on the road at No. 24 Gadsden State
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The Northeast Alabama Community College softball team is 2-for-2 when it comes to conference-series sweeps.
The Mustangs, ranked No. 2 in the latest National Junior College Athletic Association Division I softball rankings, completed a series sweep of No. 24 Gadsden State thanks to road wins of 5-0 and 9-0 Saturday in Gadsden.
The wins improved NACC to 27-1 on the season and to 8-0 in Alabama Community College Conference play. The Mustangs currently share the conference lead with No. 12 Wallace State-Hanceville and Coastal Alabama-South.
After defeating Gadsden State 9-1 and 10-3 at home on Thursday, the Mustangs used a strong seventh inning to nail down a Game 1 win Saturday before rolling to a mercy-rule shortened Game 2 victory.
In Saturday's opener, NACC took a 1-0 in the third inning when freshman Lorelai Sullivan doubled, moved to third base on sophomore Chloe Hatch's sacrifice bunt and scored on sophomore Kiley Weston's RBI fielder's choice. It stayed that way until the top of the seventh when Weston's two-out double plated freshman Olivia Acuff, who led off the inning by drawing a walk. Freshman Marti McCluskey followed with a two-run double to drive home freshman Breanna Wilson, aboard on a single, and Weston before McCluskey scored on sophomore Francesca Lumpp's RBI single to give the Mustangs a 5-0 lead.
It was plenty of run support for NACC pitcher Addie Edwards, who pitched her conference-best 10th shutout en route to improving to 14-0 on the season. The freshman right-hander allowed five hits and five walks while recording eight strikeouts over seven innings, pushing her conference-leading strikeout total 103.
Weston and McCluskey both finished with one hit and two RBIs while Lumpp had one hit and one RBI and Sullivan and Wilson had one hit each.
After NACC took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning of Game 2 — Weston tripled and scored on Lumpp's two-out RBI single — the Mustangs took a commanding 8-0 advantage on Gadsden State (24-5, 3-5) during a seven-run third inning highlighted by two-run singles by Acuff and Sullivan and RBI singles by Lumpp, McCluskey, who has hit safely in all 28 games this season, and sophomore Emma Hindmon. Acuff closed the scoring in the fourth inning by hitting a solo home run, her second of the season.
NACC finished with 12 hits, getting two each from Weston, McCluskey, Lumpp, Acuff and Sullivan and one each from Hindmon and freshman Morgan Perkins. Weston, Lumpp, Acuff and sophomore Emmorie Burke also drew a walk.
Freshman right-hander Erin Harrelson got the win in the circle for NACC, improving to 6-1 after pitching four shutout innings and allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out two. Sophomore left-hander Kayleigh Warnock tossed a scoreless fifth inning to close out the mercy-rule shortened contest.
Next up for NACC is a four-game ACCC series with No. 12-ranked Wallace State-Hanceville. The series begins with a doubleheader in Hanceville Thursday (2 p.m.) before concluding with a doubleheader at NACC's Nathaniel Ledbetter Stadium on Saturday (2 p.m.). Tickets are available at gofan.co/app/school/AL100680 for Saturday's home doubleheader with Wallace State and students receive free admission by showing a current NACC ID.