Booneville, Miss. – Jessica Boyd extended her clutch hitting into the final day of the annual TigerFest Tournament for the Northeast Mississippi Community College softball program.
Boyd delivered a key hit that busted a tight game open for the Tigers in a 9-2 victory over Three Rivers (Mo.) Community College on Saturday, February 20 at David Carnell Memorial Field.
The St. Joseph, Mich., native pushed the initial run of the contest across in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Chelsea Gates, who led off with a single, stole second base and advanced to third on an error by the Raiders.
Northeast (5-4) extended its advantage moments later when a groundball off the bat of Rebekah Morris was mishandled. Tia Davis rounded the bags on the play to push the Tigers ahead 2-0.
Three Rivers brought the matchup into a stalemate during its next turn at the plate. Destiny Bolen had a solo shot over the left field fence while Tiffany Wood added a RBI single for the Raiders (0-5).
Boyd broke the stalemate in the home half of the third with a rocket into the right-centerfield gap. Davis came all the way around from first base to score and give Northeast a lead that it did not relinquish.
"I always think just see the ball and hit it hard," said Boyd. "Coming into the season, I actually had a problem hitting the outside pitch. We've worked really hard on that so it's nice to see that's finally starting to pay off."
The Tigers sent 11 players to the dish and totaled seven runs on six hits with assistance from two Three Rivers miscues in that inning. Madison Davis got Boyd back to the dugout with a RBI single to increase Northeast's margin to 4-2.
Tia Davis' bloop infield single capped the frame and lifted the Tigers to their winning margin. Mackenzie Riley, Molly Walden and Morros also had hits for Northeast in the decisive third.
Brittany Taylor (2-2) did the rest for the Tigers by holding the Raiders scoreless in their last three at bats. She recorded her third consecutive complete game performance with just one earned run allowed and three strikeouts.
"Our kids are improving through this process," Northeast head coach Jody Long said. "They've responded to every challenge over the past couple of weeks that we've thrown at them. They're starting to buy in and understand."
Wabash Valley 10, Northeast 1
The only loss of the weekend for the Tigers came at the hands of the Warriors, who appear at No. 19 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I preseason rankings.
Wabash Valley tacked on seven runs in the first two innings of the contest. Megan Godoyo had a two-RBI triple for the Warriors while Kenedy House connected on a run-scoring double as well in that stretch.
Madison Davis kept Northeast from being shutout for the inaugural time this year. Her pinch-hit opposite field single plated pinch-runner Briana James with two outs in the latter half of the fifth.
"I was just trying to prove myself," said Davis. "I think it was important because it carried over to the next game as momentum. It definitely got my confidence back up and helped the team."
Jamia Kirk and Gates accounted for the only other base knocks for the Tigers against Wabash Valley. Boyd tossed the final three frames in relief with two punch outs and one earned run.
Northeast returns to the diamond on Friday, February 26 to meet Calhoun (Ala.) Community College. An 11 a.m. first pitch is scheduled for game one of the doubleheader.