EMCC Lions fall to Gulf Coast in play-in game of NJCAA Region 23 Softball Championship

ELLISVILLE – Marking the program's first postseason softball playoff appearance in eight years, No. 10 seed East Mississippi Community College's 2025 season came to a close during Saturday's 8-0 run-rule setback to seventh-seeded Mississippi Gulf Coast in the play-in game of the Jones College-hosted NJCAA Region 23 Softball Championship Semifinal played at Community Bank Park/Gwen Magee Field.

EMCC's first softball postseason playoff berth since 2017 was clinched earlier in the week when the Lions swept Southwest Mississippi, 4-0 and 6-2, during Monday's weather-delayed, regular-season finale on the Scooba campus. The pair of home wins over the Lady Bears closed out an 11-17 MACCC record for the year that marked EMCC's most conference victories in a single season since 2018.

The Lions' long-awaited return to softball postseason play was cut short, however, by a dominant pitching performance from Gulf Coast's Karley Rouse, who limited EMCC to only one hit while facing just two batters over the minimum. EMCC sophomore outfielder Karen Wisher opened the game with a solid line drive up the middle, but the Lion bats were completely silenced thereafter while not managing to advance a runner into scoring position during the five-inning, run-rule contest.

An inning after Karen Wisher was forced out at second for the game's first out, an infield error by the Bulldogs to lead off the second was erased on a subsequent double play. An inning-opening bases on balls to Kaylea Atkinson in the third frame was followed by consecutive fielder's choices at second base. In what would turn out to be EMCC's final at-bat of the contest, a fifth-inning, one-out walk to Brianna Byrd subsequently became a season-ending double play a batter later when she couldn't get back to the bag in time on Atkinson's line drive to first base.

For the designated home team as the game's higher seed, Gulf Coast scored in all but one inning off EMCC starting pitcher Gail Wisher, who managed to limit the first-inning damage to just one run after giving up an RBI double to Brooklyn Mitchell in between issuing a pair of walks.

Following a scoreless second inning, the Bulldogs tallied multiple runs during each of the next three frames. In the third, a pair of EMCC outfield errors contributed to a two-run Gulf Coast inning courtesy of consecutive RBI singles from Savannah Wilbanks and Natalie Jones. With EMCC reliever Allee Bennett in the circle, a costly infield error on a potential inning-ending grounder extended the fifth and ultimately sealed the Lions' fate. On the heels of Abby Lindsey's three-run home run increasing Gulf Coast's lead to 6-0 the previous frame, her RBI double following Mitchell's run-scoring single an inning later ended the contest in run-rule fashion on a pair of unearned runs during the home half of the fifth.

Head coach Mackenzie Byrd's EMCC Lions finished the 2025 campaign with a 15-26 overall record, which featured earning four doubleheader sweeps, including three in conference play.