Lady Tigers Split Doubleheader with Holmes CC
GOODMAN, MS –Athena Sayrie's run-scoring single in the seventh inning and clutch pitching by Lauren Camacho helped the Marion Military Institute Lady Tigers salvage a doubleheader split, pulling out the nightcap 6-5 after a first game rally fell short in an 11-7 loss to Holmes Community College here Saturday.
Sayrie drove in the winning run and Camacho worked out of a bases loaded jam to earn the victory, but an 8-run inning proved to be the downfall in the opener.
MMI battled back in the opener, but the eight-run third inning gave HCC a big cushion that they needed. Taylor Miner was the hitting hero in the opener, and got the Lady Tigers on the scoreboard with a single that scored Sayrie who had walked to open the game.
However, Holmes took the lead for good in the second as Char Gardon hit a two-run homer, then HCC broke loose for an 8-run third and a 11-1 lead before the Lady Tigers made a gallant comeback.
MMI struck for three in the fifth as Miner followed a single by Emily Tarango and a Sayrie walk with a three-run blast, her first home run of the season. The Lady Tigers added another in the sixth as Whitney Bennett and Tarango sandwiched singles around a walk before Jessica Lingelback walked to force in a run. Miner started another rally with a single in the seventh. Her pinch runner Annelise Borg eventually scored, stealing home on a double steal attempt. Bennett's RBI grounder scored Taylor Anderson who had singled, but the rally stopped there.
Miner had three hits and four RBIs while Tarango added two hits.
MMI never trailed in the nightcap, but needed seventh inning heroics to halve the doubleheader.
The Lady Tigers won it in the seventh as Sayrie singled in Ashley Strength who had opened the inning with a base hit. However, the Lady Tigers had to survive a bases loaded threat in the bottom of the seventh to pull out the win.
Miner's second homer of the day staked MMI to a quick 1-0 lead in the second and the Lady Tigers never trailed. They added two in the third as Ashley Soos and Anderson banged out doubles. Rachel Gauspohl's bases loaded walk made it 3-0.
After spotting Holmes two runs, MMI struck for another pair in the fourth. Andie Lopez and Soos singled before Anderson chased in both runners in with a triple. Holmes battled back with two in the fourth and tied the game at 5-5 in the sixth before MMI pulled out the win in the final frame.
Strength singled to open the final frame and went to second on Gauspohl's sacrifice bunt. Sayrie then singled to left scoring Strength. But the win did not come easy as Holmes loaded the bases with one out before winning hurler Lauren Camacho got out of the jam getting two ground balls, taking the last one herself to preserve the win.
Camacho, who got the loss in the first game, went the distance in the nightcap to garner the win.
Soos, Anderson and Sayrie each had two hits in the nightcap while Miner homered and Tarango had two runs batted in.
"The big inning has killed us in two of our losses," Coach Kristi Basso said. "We have to avoid those and continue to get the offensive support we have received so far. Our goal is to improve with each game and so far we are doing that."
MMI, now 3-3 for the season, returns home Tuesday (February 11) to host East Mississippi Community College in its next outing.