Melendrez roams center for No. 3 MGCCC

Good teams are built up the middle, and No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast has Hannah Melendrez locking down one of those five positions this season.

The center fielder is batting .412 with eight home runs and 29 RBI this season. She's a dual threat at the plate, too.

"She's come back from last season and really improved," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said. "She's got power, but with her speed she can beat out bunts. Teams can't cheat on her."

She and the Lady Bulldogs (33-3, 17-3 MACJC) take on Mississippi Delta (5-27, 2-16) Friday at Ross Smith Field in Perkinston. First pitch is at 2 p.m.

Gulf Coast's makeup game against Northeast has been moved up a day. The doubleheader will take place Sunday starting at 1 p.m.

Melendrez led the Bulldogs with 12 homers last year. Her home run rate is within a couple points of last year, but she's striking out at about half the rate of last season. She has whiffed only 12 times in 119 at bats.

Defensively, her speed allows her to cover a lot of ground in center.

Melendrez delivered one of the biggest hits of the season on Tuesday. Her one-out single in the eighth broke a 1-1 tie at No. 4 East Central, paving the way for a 6-1 win on the way to a critical sweep.

Earlier this season, she hit two home runs in a 5-2 win at Chipola, the defending Division I national champions.

"Hannah's one of our leaders," Long said. "When she says let's go, the team follows her."