Booneville, MS – After taking on the number one ranked team in the nation in their only pair of games this past week, Northeast softball has remained still at #19 in the latest national rankings as announced by the NJCAA on March 16th.
Northeast took on #1 Pearl River in their only doubleheader of the week with both games lasting over two hours with the Tigers taking the Wildcats to seven innings in both matchups. In game one Northeast found themselves ahead after the first inning 2-1 thanks to a pair of scoring hits from Sophie Gant and AB McKay in what was a pitching battle through most of the contest. Emma Abrams recorded eight strikeouts on the mound to keep the lead alive for the Tigers until Pearl River came back to retake the lead in the fifth and take the game 6-3. Game two once again went the distance but was led the entire time by the Wildcats and despite a two-run homer from Adin Shelton in the bottom of the seventh to put some runs on the board, Northeast was unable to pull off the upset over the top ranked team in the NJCAA.
All eight teams from Region 23 remained in the rankings with #1 Pearl River holding on to their top spot followed by #3 Copiah-Lincoln, #6 Jones, and #7 Louisiana State Eunice all staying in the top ten. Also staying in the polls from the MACCC was #11 Itawamba, #15 Hinds, the Tigers at #19, and #22 Mississippi Gulf Coast rounding out the group.
Northeast will look to get back on track this week as they head out on the road to East Central on Saturday for a doubleheader before coming back home to The Plex to face Holmes on Tuesday with first pitch scheduled for 2:00 PM.