COLLEGE SOFTBALL: DACC loses close first game at nationals
May 25—OXFORD, Ala. — The Danville Area Community College softball team fought to the end with Murray State College in the NJCAA Division II Tournament on Tuesday.
But the Jaguars lost a close 5-4 decision to the Aggies on a RBI double in the seventh inning by Murray State's Sabetha Sands.
Even with the defeat, DACC coach Matt Cervantes definitely saw a lot of positives as the No. 13 Jaguars were close to taking down the No. 4 Aggies.
"I think going in the game, Murray State has a high-powered offense and they had some girls can swing the bat," Cervantes said. "I think our team played awesome. We made some hellacious plays on the field to keep them at bay and we did a good job. It sucks it didn't go our way in the end, but our girls fought every inning from start to finish and it says a lot about our character."
Danielle Shuey and McKenzie Richardson each had two hits and a RBI for the Jaguars, while Raven Morrison and Ashlynn McTagertt each had one RBI and Hayden Smith added three hits.
The Jaguars will start up the consolation bracket on Wednesday at 10 a.m. against No. 12 Jackson, who lost to No. 5 Northwestern Mississippi 9-1, but Cervantes is confident that the team will not let up after Tuesday's game.
"I think this team is capable of doing what ever they think they can do. One game doesn't define us and I thought we did a good job today. We are going to try to take it tomorrow morning, we are going to take this one pitch at a time and see where it goes from there."
If the Jaguars win the game, they will move on to play a game at 8 p.m. on Wednesday against either No. 1 seed Des Moines Area or No. 9 Kansas City-Kansas.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
NJCAA Division II National Championship
At Oxford, Ala.
Murray State College 5, Danville Area Community College 4
DACC'011'001'1'— '4 '11' 1
Murray'021'010'1'—'5'10'0
WP — Alexa Hopkins LP — Raven Morrison. Two or more hits — D: Hayden Smith 3, Danielle Shuey, McKenzie Richardson MS: Kennedy Morgan, Abby Beck. 2B — D: Shuey MS: Sabetha Sands, Shallen Mershon. 3B — MS: Beck, Katyn Denson. RBIs — D: Shuey, Richardson, Morrison, Ashlynn McTagerrt MS: Mershon, Beck, Sands, Denson.
