2015

WEEK OF \{\().\_j \ l, 10\(

finishes second

ECCC from page Cl East Central had to win five straight games to advance to the finals after losing 16-2 to Des Moines Area Community College onThursday to fall into the losers' bracket. Overall, ECCC finished 6- 2 in the four-day tourna– ment. ECCC fought its way to the championship game by defeating Des Moines 12-7 in a rematch Sat– urday morning before beating Johnson County Community College out of Kansas 6-2 on Saturday afternoon in the final elim– ination game. "I wished we could have gotten over that hump," Chaney said. "But coming out of the losers bracket took its toll on our pitching. But Kankakee is a very good team and they are always at the national tournament. We got a little tired at the end but Kankakee deserved it,

they went undefeated and were a very good team." ECCC opened tourna· ment playWednesday, May 13. with a 3-2 win over No. 12 seed Macomb Community College out of Michigan, followed by a 16-2 loss to No. 4 seed Des Moines Area Commu– nity College of Iowa and a 7-0 win over No. 14 seed Mercyhurst North East of Pennsylvania on Thursday. Lady DiamondWarrior outfielder Katlyn Duke of Neshoba Central High School won the Marruci Elite Hitter Award as the tournament's best hitter. First baseman Mahalia Lacey Hill of Kilbourne (La.) High School, and second baseman Mallory Turner ofWest Laud– erdale High School were named to the All-Tourna– mentTeam. Gibson of Oak Grove High School, Pitcher

The East Central Community College softball team made his– tory on Saturday, but that wasn't quite enough for head coach Kristen Chaney. The Lady Warriors reached the championship game of the NJCAADivision II Softball National Championship on Sat– urday before eventually falling to Kankakee Community Col– lege 5-1 in the finals. . With the loss, the Lady War– nors end a record-breaking season with a 48-14 record. The second-place finish was the highest ever for East Cen– tral. "We had a good run at it," Chaney said. "All this year has been very special. We just fell short at the end. I'm proud of the girls and what they accom– plished. It stings a little bit right now to get that close and not win it but I think it will mean a lot to our program in the future. It was a good ride."

APPEARED IN:

CARTHAGINIAN ------- - NEWTON COUNTY APPEAL / _........_ __ SPIRIT OF MORTON MERIDIAN STAR _ _.X~----

NESHOBA DEMOCRAT ------ SCOTT COUNTY TIMES ------ WINSTON COUNTY JOURNAL --- CLARION-LEDGER - - ------

~-------