The NTCC softball season came to a close over the weekend as the Lady Eagles went 2-2 and finished fourth at the NJCAA Region XIV Tournament.
NTCC opened the tournament with a 5-0 win over San Jacinto before falling to the eventual champion, Paris Junior College, 8-4.††The Lady Eagles bounced back with a 5-0 win over Navarro before being eliminated from the tournament with a 12-0 loss to Blinn.
Home runs by Jessica Garza and Hannah Holovach helped the Lady Eagles pick up a win in their tourney opener against San Jacinto as pitcher Katie Tapley threw a two-hit shutout.
A late-game surge was too much for NTCC to overcome in the second game of the tournament as they fell to Paris Junior College, 8-4.
Paris jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first and held that lead into the fourth inning. A two-run home run by Holovach put the Lady Eagles up 2-1 in the top of the fourth but Paris answered with seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up 8-2. A triple by Jessica Miller and a walk by Maria Torres led to two more runs for the Lady Eagles in the top of the seventh, but it was not enough as Paris picked up the win.
The Lady Eagled bounced back with a win in their third game of the tournament as the downed Navarro, 5-0.
NTCC took the lead in the bottom of the third inning as Kelsey Moulder and Erica Graham led off with hits before Alizabeth Autrey brought them both home with a 2-RBI double.
The Lady Eagles added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth as Garza led off with a single and pinch runner Amanda Shirley scored on a double by Holovach. An error on a ground ball by Kix Hutchins allowed Holovach and Jessica Miller to score later in the inning as NTCC earned a 5-0 win.
Tapley, again, picked up the win in the pitching circle for the Lady Eagles.
NTCC was overmatched in the final game of the tournament, falling to Blinn, 12-0.
The Lady Eagles finish the season with a 23-32 record and went 11-9 in conference play.
May 6, 2013
