MGCCC Lady Bulldogs reach Region 23 Championship

(From left to right): MGCCC'S Sarah Smaltz, Julie Mercer, and Bayleigh Babin all combined to push the Lady Bulldogs into the Region 23 Title game.

Dramatic win over Pearl River sends team back to NJCAA'S

CLINTON---Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College was down 2-1 to archrival Pearl River and needed someone to step or the 2010 season was over. Earlier that day, the Lady Bulldogs lost to East Central 3-1 and were fighting for their lives with the Lady Wildcats in the loser's bracket of the Region 23 double elimination event.

Up stepped sophomore Julie Mercer, who delivered a game winning three run homer to catapault the Lady Bulldogs past Pearl River 4-2 and into Saturday's Region 23 Championship Round. The win also assured Gulf Coast (36-14) a trip to the NJCAA D-II National Tournament May 20-22 in Normal, ILL. It's the second straight year and third time since 2007 that the Lady Bulldogs have gone to the NJCAA'S.

Courtney Fairley leads off third base at the NJCAA Tournament May 7.

"Julie (Mercer) had a determined look on her face," said Gulf Coast head coach Kenneth Long, who celebrated his 300th career victory a day earlier against Pearl River.

With the Lady Wildcats clinging to a 2-1 lead with one out in the top of the 7th, Tiffany Fuller bunted her way on base and went to second after Courtney Fairley got hit by a pitch. Then Mercer stepped in with a strong breeze blowing in from left field and belted her fourth homer of 2010.

"She drilled one against the wind way over the left field fence," Long added. "Bedlam broke out because we knew we had a chance to win."

Gulf Coast pitcher Bayliegh Babin (4-1) got her second straight win of the tournament, giving up only two runs on three hits. Sarah Smaltz also added two hits in the victory and belted a solo homer in her team's 3-1 loss to East Central earlier in the day. Pearl River ends its season at 32-20 and defeated Itawamba and Co-Lin before falling to Gulf Coast for the sixth time this season.

If the Lady Bulldogs beat East Central (42-9-1) in the 1 p.m. game, the same two teams will square off again at 3 p.m. for the Region 23 title. Both teams have already qualified for the NJCAA D-II event in Normal, ILL.