EMCC Lions close out home softball slate with pair of setbacks to 17th-ranked Hinds
The Lions of East Mississippi Community College closed out the home portion of their 2026 softball slate by falling to 17th-ranked Hinds, 10-9 and 12-6, during Saturday's MACCC action played on the Scooba campus.
April 19, 2026
SCOOBA — The Lions of East Mississippi Community College closed out the home portion of their 2026 softball slate by falling to 17th-ranked Hinds, 10-9 and 12-6, during Saturday's MACCC action played on the Scooba campus.
In the opening game, EMCC rallied from an early 6-1 deficit to battle the Eagles down to the wire. The visitors began the opener with four consecutive singles to produce a three-run first frame. A solo score in the second inning was followed by two more runs a frame later off EMCC starting pitcher Savannah Mitchell.
After getting on the board with an unearned run in the second inning on Hannah Borden's run-scoring sacrifice bunt, the home-standing Lions then took advantage of more defensive miscues by Hinds to plate four runs in the fourth inning. EMCC added three more tallies a frame later to knot the score at 8-8 after five innings.
The opening game ultimately came down to the final inning. After the visitors scored a pair of runs off EMCC's Chaley Peterson in the top of the seventh, the Lions rallied in the home half to put the potential winning run on base. RaMiyah Price's RBI sacrifice bunt was followed by Olivia Saucier's two-out double and a walk to Madison Newburn. Hinds' Abigail McLean was able to get the game's final out on a pop fly to secure the Eagles' one-run win.
Newburn, Saucier and Borden each had two hits apiece to lead the Lions in the opener.
In the nightcap, Hinds reached EMCC pitching for 19 hits while using two big innings to help earn the road sweep. After the Lions took their only lead (2-1) of the day on Newburn's two-run double in the first frame, the Eagles' four-run third put the visitors in front for good.
Newburn's sacrifice fly in the third inning temporarily cut the deficit to 5-3 before Hinds scored twice in the fourth and five more times a frame later off EMCC starting pitcher Allee Bennett to move ahead 12-3.
The Lions made a final push for a possible comeback attempt by scoring three more times during the late innings. Newburn capped her five-RBI outing with a two-run homer - her fifth of the year - in the fifth frame. The sophomore third baseman went a combined 4-for-6 at the plate on the afternoon. Saucier added a two-out RBI single off McLean in the sixth inning to account for the nightcap's final margin.
During the upcoming final week of regular-season conference play, head coach Mackenzie Byrd's EMCC Lions (12-28, 4-20 MACCC) will travel to Northeast Mississippi and Mississippi Gulf Coast on Tuesday (April 21) and Friday (April 24), respectively.
