No. 3 Gulf Coast can’t mount 2nd comeback

PERKINSTON — Playing its second game of the day in the losers' bracket of the MACCC Tournament, No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast played a wild-and-wooly nightcap against No. 9 Copiah-Lincoln.

When the dust settled, the Bulldogs had seen a big lead evaporate late, and unlike the first game of the day, they couldn't come back and lost 11-10.

"A five-run lead in the seventh inning, we should be able to hang on," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said. "We had an error or two mixed in, and we gave up some home runs. But we'll bounce back. We'll get ready to play in region now."

Rakeya Travis (So., Poplarville/Poplarville) was 3-for-3 with five RBI, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. She was a double short of hitting for the cycle.

Kristian Jones (Fr., Southaven/DeSoto Central) also homered for the Bulldogs and had three RBI. K.K. Agner (Fr., Horn Lake/Magnolia Heights) walked four times.

After giving up six runs in the top of the seventh, the Bulldogs nearly pulled off another walk-off win. They loaded the bases but couldn't push across the tying run to end a nearly 3.5-hour game.

Gulf Coast will open the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament on Wednesday in Eunice, La. It looks like the Bulldogs will be pitted against the host Bengals in the opening round.

Jones, Itawamba, Co-Lin and Northwest will be the other teams in the double-elimination tournament. Two teams will advance to the national tournament.

MACCC Softball Championship

Fulton

Wednesday, May 5

Game 1: No. 6 Northeast vs. No. 3 Jones 9, No. 6 Northeast 1 (5 innings)

Game 2: No. 2 Gulf Coast 4, No. 7 Northwest 1

Game 3: No. 1 Itawamba 6, No. 8 Hinds 1

Game 4: No. 5 Pearl River vs. No. 4 Copiah-Lincoln, 7:30 pm

Thursday, May 6

Game 5: Northwest 12, Northeast 6 (Northwest eliminated)

Game 6: Hinds 5, Pearl River 1 (Pearl River eliminated)

Game 7: Jones 2, Gulf Coast 0

Game 8: Itawamba vs. Copiah-Lincoln, 10:30 p.m.

Friday, May 7

Game 9: Gulf Coast 8, Hinds 7 (Hinds eliminated)

Game 10: Copiah-Lincoln 8, Northwest 3 (Northwest eliminated)

Game 11: Jones 6, Itawamba 2

Game 12: Copiah-Lincoln 11, Gulf Coast 10 (Gulf Coast eliminated)

Saturday, May 8

Game 13: Itawamba vs. Copiah-Lincoln, 1 pm (Elimination game)

Game 14: Jones vs. Winner Game 13, 3:30 pm

Game 15: Winner Game 14 vs. Loser Game 14, 6 pm, if necessary

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.