Gadsden, Ala. – Trenisha King returned to her home state on Friday and picked up the first win of her collegiate career.
King tossed six innings of shutout softball for Northeast Mississippi Community College in a 5-0 victory over Snead State (Ala.) Community College on the opening day of the 2014 Cardinal Spring Fling.
The Tuscumbia, Ala., product struck out four and gave up six hits in a contest that was delayed over two hours due to unplayable field conditions at Gadsden City Park.
King (1-1) and Abigail Rish, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning to wrap up the triumph, kept the Parsons off balance and did not allow an opposing runner to pass second base in the entire matchup.
Snead State's (5-10) biggest threat came in the final frame when Mary Graves and Danya Snead hit back-to-back singles with nobody out.
But Rish sat down three straight Parsons out of the bullpen to conclude a big win for the Tigers to open the tournament.
Northeast took a quick 1-0 lead after the first inning when Yasmeen Cooper walked and came around the bags on Chelsea Buntin's double to centerfield.
The Tigers put the game out of reach in the fifth by scoring four runs. Cooper began the frame with a double and scored two batters later on King's RBI single.
Bre Agnew followed King with another RBI hit while wild pitches permitted Shannon Goode and Sydney Martin to touch home plate to round out Northeast's scoring.
Buntin had two of the Tigers' five base knocks against Christian Rhodes (0-2), who walked five and struck out 10 in the loss.
Gadsden State 6, Northeast 5
The host Cardinals scored the winning run in their final at bat, but not before a furious comeback by the Tigers in the seventh inning.
Whittney Gee, Goode and Cooper put together three straight singles to cut Gadsden State's advantage to 3-2.
Then with two outs, King came up big once again for Northeast with a double that cleared the bases and lifted the Tigers ahead 4-3.
Agnew plated King with a RBI single to round out a four-run frame that put Northeast (6-11) up 5-3.
But the Cardinals returned the favor in the bottom half with four straight singles to begin the inning. Madison McCreless's base hit and a fielder's choice by Allie Brassell knotted the matchup at 5-5.
Buntin got Hope Houser to groundout to put two away, but Halie Snider connected on an infield single that scored McCreless to give Gadsden State the walkoff victory.
Courtney Bolton (1-0) got the final out of the seventh and received the win in relief. Buntin (3-5) pitched 0.2 innings and allowed two hits.
The Tigers began their come-from-behind effort in the sixth when Haleigh Moffett and Cooper connected on back-to-back doubles to cut the Cardinals' advantage to 3-1.
Gadsden State (10-7) took an early 3-0 lead following run scoring hits by Houser and Brassell.
The combination of Buntin and Cooper headed Northeast's offensive effort on day one of the event. Both ladies had four hits and a RBI with Cooper, a Houston native, scoring four runs.