No. 3 Lady Bulldogs sweep No. 4 ECCC

No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast went on the road and swept No. 4 East Central on Tuesday in Decatur.

The Lady Bulldogs exploded for five runs in the eighth to win 6-1 in Game 1. The offense carried over into the first inning of the nightcap, where they put four on the board in the first on the way to a 9-2 win.

"It speaks a lot for our team that we can go on the road and play a solid team and play like we did," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long. "I'm really, really proud of them."

The Lady Bulldogs improved to 33-3, 17-3 MACJC and stay one game back of first-place Jones.

The Lady Warriors' plight illustrates the danger of dropping games at the top of a competitive MACJC race. They fell to 32-7, 16-6 and dropped from third to fifth behind Itawamba and Copiah-Lincoln.

Izzy Werdann had five RBI on the day, and Camry Griffith had three hits in the opener. Deborah Elmore had four hits in the nightcap, with Brittany Cooley adding three.

"She's swinging the bat really well," Long said. "She's just coming up there not putting pressure on herself and swinging the bat well for us."

The offense in Game 1 all came at the end of the game. Werdann singled with one out in the seventh, then courtesy runner Reid Cooley scored on Alyssa Hardy's double.

Nora Keehn had scattered five hits over the first six innings, but East Central got a leadoff double in the bottom of the inning. Long brought in Kaitlin Lee to try to get the save, but a one-out single tied the game.

"Nora pitched really well," Long said. "She kept them off balance. She gave up a big hit there in the seventh and we made the change, but not because she didn't pitch a good game. She pitched well."

Lee singled to lead off the eighth, and Lexie Mathis walked. After Elmore singled to load the bases, Hannah Melendrez singled to drive in two runs. Werdann doubled in two more, and Alyssa Hardy drove in another with a single.

"When we really had our backs against he wall," Long said, "we scored five in that eighth inning."

Lee closed it out to get her first of two wins on the day. She's now 16-1.

The Bulldogs jumped out and got her four runs before the first out of the first inning of the second game. Werdann's two-run single was the big hit.

"She was a little bit aggravated with herself," Long said. "She didn't think she was getting the barrel on the ball, but the hits she got were big for us."

Lee gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning, but she retired the next 21 she faced. She erased a second-inning single with a line-drive double play, retiring the last 16 in a row.

Gulf Coast plays Mississippi Delta at Ross-Smith Field in Perkinston on Friday. The doubleheader starts at 2 p.m.