Despite putting up a valiant effort, the Lady Bears could not get over the hump Wednesday, falling at home to the No. 2 Pearl River Lady Wildcats, losing Game 1, 8-3 and Game 2, 2-1.
"I am definitely proud of how hard that the girls fought," Southwest head coach Shea Johnson said.
In the opener, the Lady Bears (12-8, 1-3 MACCC) started Lauren Mounce and the freshman got right to work, retiring six of the first seven batters that she faced. The Lady Bears offense, however, could not get any runs across despite putting two runners on in the second inning.
Pearl River pushed the first two runs of the game across in the third on an RBI triple. After Southwest was unable to respond in the bottom half of the third, the Lady Wildcats added three more in the fourth making it a 5-0 deficit for the hosts.
Southwest got on the board in the sixth when Liberty Gillihan doubled to right and scored during the ensuing at bat when Presely Dease hit a double of her own. However, the score was answered by three more runs for Pearl River in the seventh making it an 8-1 game.
The Lady Bears rallied in the bottom half of the inning with one run on an RBI double by Erin Acey, scoring Morgan Gras and an error later in the inning which allowed Acey to touch home. The rally came to an unfortunate end during the next at bat sealing the win for the visitors.
Dease led the Lady Bears with two hits and an RBI. Gras also had two hits and a run scored while Acey had one RBI and one run scored.
In Game 2, it was the Lady Bears who struck first as Anlyssa Richardson led off with a triple and scored during the ensuing at bat when Gillihan singled to right. Mounce got the start again in Game 2 and was a thorn in the side of the Lady Wildcats through the first four innings.
She ran into trouble in the fifth when a Pearl River single and a double plated one run, tying the game at 1. After the Lady Bears were unable to answer in the fifth, the Lady Wildcats took a 2-1 lead with three-consecutive singles, the third of which scored a run.
The Lady Bears tried to answer in the sixth and seventh innings but were unable to as the Lady Wildcats preserved the win.
Gillihan led the Lady Bears with a hit and an RBI.
Southwest returns to action on Saturday at 2 p.m. at home against No. 14 Northeast Mississippi.
