Mustangs victorious in ACCC Tournament debut
Top-seeded NACC defeats Gadsden State in opening round, play in winners bracket final on Friday
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The Northeast Alabama Community College softball team's first conference tournament game goes into the history books as a victory.
The top-seeded Mustangs scored at least one run in each of the first five innings en route to winning their Alabama Community College Conference/National Junior College Athletic Association Region 22 Tournament debut with a 8-3 victory over fourth-seeded Gadsden State Thursday at Veterans Park in Alabaster.
The NACC softball program, which is in its second season of competition, did not qualify for the tournament a year ago. A year later, the No. 3-nationally ranked Mustangs will now face second-seeded Wallace State Friday at 2 p.m. for a berth in Saturday's conference championship game. A loss would drop the Mustangs into the elimination bracket final Saturday at noon.
Against Gadsden State, NACC (49-4) took a 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning when sophomore Chloe Hatch was hit by a pitch, went to third base on sophomore Kiley Weston's double and scored two batters later on Francesca Lumpp's RBI single. After Gadsden State tied the game on a solo home run in the top of the second, NACC moved in front 3-1 in its half of the inning when freshman Olivia Acuff doubled, went to third on freshman Morgan Perkins' fly out and scored on Emma Hindmon's sacrifice before Lorelai Sullivan doubled and scored on Hatch's RBI double. Sophomore Emmorie Burke's RBI double upped the Mustangs' lead to 4-1 in the third inning before Hatch's RBI double and RBI singles by Weston and Lumpp put NACC in front 7-1 after four innings. Sullivan's RBI groundout capped the scoring for the Mustangs in the fifth inning.
That was more than enough run support for ACCC Pitcher of the Year Addie Edwards. The freshman right-hander improved to 27-0 after allowing just three runs on five hits and two walks while recording nine strikeouts during her 25th complete game of the season.
NACC outhit the Cardinals 10-5, led by Lumpp's 3-for-4, two-RBI performance. Hatch finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Weston was 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Mustangs, who got one hit, one walk and one RBI from Burke, one hit and one RBI from Sullivan and one hit from Acuff.
The ACCC Tournament resumes Friday with elimination bracket games featuring Calhoun vs. Shelton State and Gadsden State vs. Coastal Alabama-South. The winners of those games play at 2 p.m., the same time of the winners bracket final between NACC and Wallace State.
Admission is $15 per day and a $20 tournament pass is available. Children ages 6 and under are admitted free as are any youth who wear their team jersey. Tournament games will be streamed live at www.jockjive.com.
