No. 6 Gulf Coast wins two more at tournament
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Southern Union State Community College | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
|
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Faulkner State Community College | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
|
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 4 |
No. 6 Mississippi Gulf Coast won two more games Saturday, extending its season-opening win streak to four games at the Wallace State Tournament in Atmore, Ala.
The Lady Bulldogs downed Southern Union 2-1 and Faulkner State 11-3 in five innings.
"We didn't play real good the first game," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said, "but it's good to win when you don't play your best. It's good to hang on and win."
Kristen Gardner struck out 10 while scattering four hits to win her first start of the year. The sophomore from Van cleave didn't walk anybody.
"She had a couple pitches working real well for her," Long said. "I wished we could have gotten a couple more runs to make her more comfortable at the end."
Lexie Mathis had a single that drove in one run, with another scoring on the play in the third. She's had to change positions with Alyssa Hardy sidelined by injury early in the season.
"She's playing really, really well," Long said. "We had to move her to shortstop on the spur of the moment. She' making real good defensive plays. She's a real smart player. She's swinging the bat real well."
Mathis is batting .385 in the early going, and slugged one of four Lady Bulldogs home runs in the second game. She was the second of back-to-back homers in the fourth inning, and Izzy Werdann hit another three batters later in the frame.
"Izzy had a big home run for us," Long said. "That's the second home run in two days for her."
Deborah Elmore had a third-inning home run and drove in three runs. Mathis also had three RBI.
Mathis, Elmore and Kaitlin Lee had two hits in the second game.
Nora Keehn picked up her second win by allowing three hits in five innings. Only one of the three runs was earned.
"I thought her control was better tonight," Long said. "She stayed ahead of hitters better. She had the luxury of us scoring a lot of runs."
Gulf Coast returns to action Sunday, playing San Jacinto College-South at 11 a.m. and Wallace State at 12:30 p.m. Wallace State is ranked 12th in Division I, the next level up from Gulf Coast.
