Late-inning surge lifts NACC to World Series’ winners bracket final

Austin McNeece described the Northeast Alabama Community Softball team as a tight-knit group that loves to come through for one another.

Her teammates won't soon forget McNeece "coming through" in a clutch moment Friday morning.

With the game tied 4-all, the freshman delivered a pinch-hit three-run double to give the third-seeded Mustangs the lead and spark a five-run sixth inning during NACC's 9-4 win over seventh-seeded Paris (Texas) Junior College in a National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Softball World Series winners bracket semifinal contest at Choccolocco Park in Oxford.

"That was my moment to clutch up and provide for our team," McNeece said. "Looking over and seeing everyone happy, off-the-rails excited, that's the best. There's nothing like that moment."

The win kept the Mustangs undefeated in the World Series and advanced NACC to a winners bracket finals matchup Saturday at 1 p.m. with top-seeded Florida Southwestern State College. The winner of that game advances to Sunday's championship round while the loser falls into the elimination bracket final needing three consecutive wins in order to win the national championship.

NACC (54-4) fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning before getting a run back in the bottom of the inning when sophomore Chloe Hatch doubled and later slid in safely ahead of the throw to home plate on freshman Marti McCluskey's RBI fielder's choice. 

The Mustangs rallied in front 3-2 in the fourth inning. After McCluskey singled and sophomore Francesca Lumpp walked, McCluskey and sophomore pinch runner Audra Bellomy scored on sophomore Emmorie Burke's two-run single.

A two-run homer put Paris in front 4-3 in the top of the fifth, but NACC answered tied it in its half of the inning when freshman Lorelai Sullivan doubled and scored on sophomore Kiley Weston's two-run triple down the right-field line.

NACC then loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth — Lumpp singled, freshman Olivia Acuff walked and freshman Morgan Perkins singled — before McNeece lined a 2-1 pitch into the right-center field gap to clear the bases and give the Mustangs a 7-4 lead. 

"What do you say about Austin McNeece?" said NACC head coach Joe Guthrie. "She's been in and out of the lineup. She's a team kid — found a way to help us win the ball game."

The Mustangs tacked on two more insurance runs in the inning on Hatch's RBI triple and Weston's RBI single.

Weston finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Hatch was 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Mustangs, who got one hit each from McCluskey (RBI), Burke (two RBIs), McNeece (three RBIs), Lumpp, Perkins and Sullivan.

NACC freshman right-hander Addie Edwards pitched a perfect seventh inning to close out the victory. Edwards, who struck out six while allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks, improved to 32-0 in the circle after pitching her 30th complete game.

"The players did a great job there picking that one up," Guthrie said. "We got down and they came right back and then we put our foot on the gas there (in the sixth inning)."