Monday sports: Jaguars batter Oxford ahead of season end, playoffs
Photo: DeSoto Central’s Ethan Carter slides home with one of the Jaguars’ 12 runs scored in Monday’s 12-2 victory over Oxford. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Monday night’s 12-2 DeSoto Central baseball win in five innings over Oxford didn’t move the needle in the 1-7A region standings, but the outcome certainly gave the Jaguars some confidence going into the end of the season and upcoming 7A playoffs’ first round, with Madison Central the likely opening series opponent.
Monday, DeSoto Central banged out six doubles off Charger pitchers among its 15 hits, led by Caiden Bullard’s pair of doubles in posting the region victory. Bullard’s offense was helping his own pitching performance, a three-hit complete game effort marred only by a solo homer to center from Reid Kent.
Meanwhile, Connor Simpson drove in four runs and Conner Ferguson plated three more in sparking an offense that failed to score Friday against the Chargers in a 3-0 loss.
Jaguar coach Brian Lewis challenged his bats to produce and they came through.
“Our challenge to our six-through-nine holes (batters) was to get on base and roll it over to the top of the lineup,”,” Lewis said. “On Friday our six-through-nine holes struggled and had eight of our nine strikeouts, so we really challenged those guys to step up, get on base, and roll it over to the top of the lineup. They didn’t just get on base, they were hitting some doubles and finding ways to produce and help us offensively.”
Bullard stymied the Oxford attack with eight strikeouts while allowing the three hits the Charger offense were able to get.
“When he (Bullard) has all three pitches working, he’s tough,” Lewis said. “His change up was outstanding tonight, it was giving them fits. Other than the one home run, he kept them off balance and did a good job.”
DeSoto Central plays on Tuesday, April 16 against Southaven and may play one more regular season non-region game this week before starting the playoff as the number four seed against 2-7A apparent number one seed Madison Central.
DeSoto County scoreboard
Monday, April 15
Prep baseball
DeSoto Central 12, Oxford 2 (5 innings)
Note: DeSoto Central scored at least two runs in each innings, scoring three times in the third and inning for a run-rule victory. Ethan Carter and Peyton Davis each scored twice for the Jaguars and six players had two-hit nights. Connor Simpson drove in four runs and Conner Ferguson plated three more. Five DeSoto Central players hit doubles with Caiden Bullard getting a pair of two-base hits. Winning pitcher Bullard struck out eight, allowed three hits and two earned runs for the Jaguars.
Northpoint Christian 1, St. George’s 0
Note: Pitching dominated the game, as Northpoint pitcher KL Farr held the Gryphons to one hit and St. George’s hurler Quinn Showalter allowed two hits in the contest. Northpoint scored a run in the first inning and made it stand up for the district victory. Jayden Parker scored the game’s only run on a passed ball. The Trojans also benefited from two Gryphon errors. Farr struck out nine on the mound.
Lake Cormorant 14, Strayhorn 0 (5 innings)
Note: Gators scored eight times in the first inning to open the game. Brayden Collins scored three times and Hayden Streiber drove in three runs. Derrin Randle homered and Collins tripled. Ty Agner was the winning pitcher with 11 strikeouts and he allowed three hits.
Prep softball
Hernando 13, Horn Lake 0 (4 innings)
Note: Hernando opened the game with six runs in the fifth inning. Six different Lady Tigers scored two runs, Madison York and Hayden Hodge each had a pair of hits and York had three RBIs. York doubled and tripled, and Hodge had a pair of triples. Graycin Higginbotham and Jayla Sites each hit home runs. Winning pitcher K Johnson struck out seven and allowed just one hit for Hernando.
Northpoint Christian 20, First Assembly Christian 1 (3 innings)
Note: Northpoint scored 13 runs in the third inning of the run-rule victory. Macie Dever-Boaz and Katy Bobo each scored three runs on three hits and drove in four RBIs. Dever-Boaz slammed a pair of homers among her three hits and Bobo hit a pair of doubles. Trinity Garvin struck out five and allowed two hits, pitching three innings for the victory.
Tipton-Rosemark Academy, Tenn. 6, DeSoto Central 5
Note: TRA scored three times for the come-from-behind victory, scoring all six runs in the last three innings. Lady Jags had taken a 5-3 lead after 6.5 innings. K Short scored twice for the Lady Jags, five separate players had two hits each, and D Smith had two RBIs. Londen Armstrong doubled. M Jamison took the pitching loss with three strikeouts and walked three in 5.2 inning pitched. Jamison allowed five hits, two runs, one earned.
Center Hill 15, Olive Branch 12
Note: Center Hill scored nine times in the fifth inning and held off a five-run seventh inning Olive Branch rally for the victory. Nevaeh Bussell and Juliet Davis each scored three times for Center Hill and Davis had four hits. Trinity Moore and Reagan Ryan each drove in three runs for Center Hill. Ryan homered and doubled, and Davis added a pair of two-base hits for the Lady Mustangs. For Olive Branch, four separate Lady Quistors had two-hit efforts and Kristen Howard had three RBIs. Ana-Marie Teal smacked a double, Olive Branch’s only extra-base hit.
JUCO baseball
Northwest 7, Rhodes College JV 4
SPORTS ETC: The slow ascent in the NJCAA Division II baseball rankings continued this week for Northwest Mississippi Community College, as the Rangers inched up another spot to No. 15 in the latest polls, released Monday afternoon.
Now 31-12 on the season, the Rangers moved up after a 3-1 week, which included a sweep of Northeast and a split against Meridian. Northwest remains tied for second place in the latest MACCC standings, joining East Central at 16-4 inside the conference.
The complete release is available on the Northwest Athletics website.
