No. 6 Lady Bulldogs get dramatic capper to great weekend
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 1 |
|
San Jacinto College-South | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Final (9) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Wallace State Community College-Hanceville | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 2 |
|
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 9 | 2 |
Mississippi Gulf Coast topped off a perfect start to the 2016 season with a four-run, seventh-inning comeback and a Molly Murphy walk-off grand slam to defeat tournament host Wallace State.
"Most teams would have said, 'We had a good tournament. We're down four in the seventh,'" Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said. "But this team is not made like that. Everybody on this team was pulling together or we couldn't have done what we did."
The No. 6 Lady Bulldogs were the only undefeated team in the Wallace State Tournament, winning all six games. The games were played in Atmore, Ala.
Gulf Coast plays in Division II, but all its opponents were Division I, including No. 8 Chattanooga State and No. 12 Wallace State. The Lady Bulldogs also defeated Navarro, which received votes in the preseason poll.
Wallace State hit a grand slam in the sixth to take an 8-4 lead, but Gulf Coast stormed back. Kaitlin Lee reached on an error, and Brittany Cooley and Lexie Mathis were hit by pitches.
Deborah Elmore drove in one run with an infield single, and Hannah Melendrez was hit by a pitch. Izzy Werdann singled in two runs to tie it, forcing extra innings.
After starting with a runner at second in the ninth-inning tiebreaker, Mathis and Elmore walked. After a fielder's choice force at home, Murphy ended the game with her blast.
"I've never seen anything in my life like that. It was amazing," Long said. "A walk-off grand slam. Unbelievable. We just didn't give up."
Mathis hit two more home runs in the game, giving her four on the young season. Lee and Elmore had two hits each.
Lee (3-0) got her second win of the day, this one in relief after entering in the sixth. She shut down Wallace State the rest of the way, striking out three and allowing one hit.
In Sunday's opener, Gulf Coast breezed to a 10-1 win over San Jacinto College-South in five innings. Mathis had home run in that game, along with Melendrez. Cooley and Elmore doubled in the balanced attack that saw eight of nine Lady Bulldogs get a hit.
Lee struck out three in the three-hitter.
