Booneville, MS – Wednesday afternoon the MACCC had a pair of top twenty nationally ranked teams go head to head in Fulton, MS between #20 Northeast and #14 Itawamba in a longtime rivalry matchup where both sides were able to take home a win on the day in a series split with the Indians taking game one 2-0 and the Tigers grabbing game two 4-3.
Northeast and Itawamba battled it out in the circle in game one with both sides' pitchers silencing the opposing batters with Sophie Gant allowing zero hits through the first three innings and zero runs through the first four. Despite lackluster offense from both sides through the first four innings of play in game one, it was the Indias who struck first with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to take a 2-0 lead over the Tigers. Northeast finally started to connect on some hits in the top of the seventh with Tatum Berry hitting a single through the left side followed by a single up the middle from Kendall Bragg but were unable to get a run on the board as the Tigers fell to Itawamba 2-0 in game one.
Key Stats from Game 1:
- Sophie Gant pitched in all six innings for the Tigers and did not allow a single hit until the bottom of the fourth inning.
- Northeast recorded only four hits in game one with three coming in the final two innings.
Scoring came earlier in game two than in game one with Itawamba scoring three runs in the second inning for an early lead with the Tigers trying to climb back the rest of the way. From the third to the sixth innings Northeast did not have an answer offensively as they relied on their defense and pitching from Emma Abrams who struck out three batters in that span to keep the deficit to three. In the top of the seventh the Tigers finally found their rhythm with Chloe Skelton doubling to center field to get on base before Jazz Smithey came in as a pinch runner and later scored the first run of the day for Northeast. Adin Shelton hammered out a bomb for a solo home run to trim the gap down to one with an RBI double from Ava Elliott to right field allowed Berry to tie up the score at 3-3. A big hit from Bragg in the bottom of the lineup resulted in an RBI single to bring home Addison Butler for the game winning run with the Tigers taking home a win from game two for a split on the day.
Key Stats from Game 2:
- Abrams recorded her 15th win of the 2026 season with a complete game of seven innings pitched while striking out three batters.
- Shelton and Bragg both went 2-for-3 at the plate in game two with Shelton hitting a solo bomb in the seventh inning and Bragg connecting on an RBI single for the game winning run.
Northeast now improves to 35-11 overall on the 2026 season with a 12-10 record in MACCC action. The Tigers will return home to the Plex on Sunday for another nationally ranked matchup against #6 Jones with first pitch of the doubleheader taking place at 2:00 PM.