No. 2-ranked NACC sweeps series with No. 10 Wallace State

The Northeast Alabama Community College softball program now sits alone atop the conference standings after the biggest series sweep in the program's brief two-year history.

The No. 2 nationally-ranked Mustangs completed a four-game Alabama Community College Conference sweep of No. 10-ranked Wallace State-Hanceville by sweeping the visiting Lions 5-1 and 10-3 in a doubleheader at NACC's Nathaniel Ledbetter Stadium on Saturday. 

Those wins followed victories of 13-2 and 5-2 at Wallace State to start the series on Thursday.

Saturday's wins improved NACC to 31-1 on the season with a league-best 12-0 conference record. The Mustangs entered the week tied with Wallace State and Coastal Alabama-South for the lead in the ACCC Division I Softball standings, but NACC is now three games up on Coastal Alabama-South after it lost three of four games in its series with Calhoun and four ahead of Wallace State.

"Proud of the way our kids competed," said NACC head coach Joe Guthrie. "We executed well and did a good job with the plan. We did a good job of managing the games. When short game was required, we did that. When we needed to drive in runs, for the most part, we did a good job of that. Our pitching staff, the entire day, was a total highlight. They did a really good job. Very proud of them. They went out and competed and all gave us a chance to win."

The Mustangs used a familiar formula to win Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader — a dominant pitching performance from freshman Addie Edwards and some clutch hitting.

NACC took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on sophomore Francesca Lumpp's RBI sacrifice fly. After Wallace State tied it 1-all in the top of the second on a solo home run, the Mustangs responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Freshman Olivia Acuff led off the inning with a double, went to third base on freshman Morgan Perkins' sacrifice bunt and scored on sophomore Emma Hindmon's RBI double. Freshman Lorelai Sullivan and sophomore Chloe Hatch then reached via a single and a walk before scoring to give NACC a 4-1 lead on sophomore Kiley Weston's two-run single. The Mustangs upped their lead to 5-1 in the fourth on Hindmon's RBI sacrifice fly. Wallace State tried to rally in the top of the seventh, using two singles and an error to load the bases with no outs. But Edwards got the next three batters to fly out, strike out and ground into a fielder's choice to end the game.

Hindmon finished 2-for-2 with two RBIs for the Mustangs while Hatch and Weston (two RBIs) both had one hit and one walk. NACC also got one hit each from Lumpp, Acuff, Sullivan and sophomore Emmorie Burke.

Meanwhile, Edwards allowed only one run on three hits and recorded five strikeouts while improving to a conference-best 16-0 in the circle.

NACC fell behind 1-0 to begin Game 2, but the Mustangs did not trail for long. Hatch singled to start the bottom of the first and scored on an RBI triple from Weston, who later gave NACC a 2-1 lead thanks to freshman Marti McCluskey's RBI sacrifice fly. Wallace State (25-8, 8-4 in ACCC) tied the game 2-all in the top of the third, but NACC answered in the bottom of the inning when Weston walked and scored on McCluskey's RBI double. After Wallace State tied the game again in the top of the fourth, the Mustangs broke the game open by scoring seven runs — all with two outs — in their half of the fourth. Weston's RBI single drove in Perkins, who drew a lead-off walk, with the go-ahead run before McCluskey followed with a two-run double and Lumpp hit an RBI single. After Acuff walked and Burke singled to load the bases, Lumpp scored on a wild pitch before Perkins capped the Mustangs' scoring outburst with a two-run single.

"There were some things we didn't do well offensively in the second game at their place (Thursday at Wallace State) that we worked on. It was good to see us make that adjustment, which led to that big inning," Guthrie said. 

After seeing her NACC-record 30-game hitting streak end in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader, McCluskey bounced back in a big way in Game 2, finishing 2-for-3 with two doubles and four RBIs. Sullivan went 3-for-4 with a run scored and Weston contributed two hits, a walk, two RBIs and three runs for the Mustangs, which also got two hits each from Lumpp and Burke, one hit and one walk from Perkins and one hit from Hatch.

Lumpp currently has a 16-game hitting streak while Sullivan has a 14-game hitting streak.

Kayleigh Warnock improved to 5-0 on the season after pitching 3 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. The sophomore left-hander finished with five strikeouts. Starter Erin Harrelson had one strikeout while allowing two earned runs over 3 1/3 innings.

Guthrie applauded his team for closing out the series sweep and taking the lead in the ACCC standings.

"It's a good spot we've put ourselves in so far," Guthrie said. "We've got to continue this momentum."

The Mustangs begin another ACCC series Thursday, hosting Snead State for a doubleheader that begins at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at gofan.co/app/school/AL100680 and students receive free admission by showing a current NACC ID.