Murphy delivers sweep for No. 3 MGCCC

No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast blew out Northeast in the opener Sunday in Booneville, but the Lady needed a two-out hit by Molly Murphy in extra innings of Game 2 to get their 13^th victory in a row.

Murphy stroked a 2-2 pitch to right field to break up a scoreless tie, and Kaitlin Lee closed things out for a 1-0 win, a one-hitter and her 18^th victory of the year.

Nora Keehn threw a four-hitter in the opener, a 10-0 victory in six.

"We got great pitching, like it's been all year," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said. "They always give us a chance to win."

The Lady Bulldogs improve to 37-3 and are now 21-3 in the MACJC. They are in second, a game behind Jones, and two games in front of third-place Copiah-Lincoln. They travel to Wesson on Wednesday to play Co-Lin.

Hannah Melendrez led off the eighth with a single, then stole second. Alyssa Hardy sacrificed her to third.

After a groundout, Murphy ground through a seven-pitch at bat to put Gulf Coast ahead.

"She battled, fouled off several pitches," Long said. "She just got a pitch she could hit and put it right where it needed to be. That's basically all we needed, was to score one run, because Kaitlin was throwing really well."

Lee needed only six pitches in the bottom of the inning to retire Northeast (12-27, 5-19) in order.

The Lady Bulldogs nearly closed it out in regulation. They had three different runners in scoring position in the seventh inning, but couldn't score.

Lee led off with a triple, then was out on a squeeze attempt by Brittany Cooley.

"Hindsight is 20/20. If I had to do it again, Cooley's such a good hitter, I'd just let her hit the ball," Long said. "She's also good bunting, getting the runner in.

Cooley advanced to second on the play, then was erased after Lexie Mathis' single set up a first-and-third rundown that failed. Mathis wound up on second, but was stranded by a strikeout.

In the first game, Deborah Elmore had three hits and drove in two runs. Cooley, Mathis, Camry Griffith and Izzy Werdann had two hits. Griffith also had two RBI.

Keehn (11-1) struck out eight and didn't walk anyone.

"She was typically Nora," Long said. "Her movement was really good. She was never in a situation where she was in a bind at all. She was in command."