Missy Gators take another one on the chin|[9/14/05]
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Kiara Jones hit home runs in her first two at-bats to lead Natchez to a 16-2 rout of Vicksburg on Tuesday at Halls Ferry Park.
Jones’ home runs led a 21-hit attack as Natchez picked up its third win of the season and evened its division record at 1-1. For Vicksburg, it was one of the worst losses to date in a 1-15 season.
“I don’t know what to say,” VHS coach Kori Crutchfield said. “We must be the most inconsistent team in the nation. We must be the slowest team in the nation and one of the smallest, but that’s Vicksburg.
“You never how they’re going to show up on a given day. At the Clinton Tournament, we hung in there with two pretty strong teams in Florence and Pearl. But today, it looked like we had never practiced before.”
The Missy Gators played bad in the field (eight errors) and looked even worse at the plate, getting just two infield hits and striking out seven times, four of which were outright swing and misses.
Natchez coach Charlie Williams was glad to see his team hit the ball well.
“We cut down on all of the foolishness and started doing some of the little things I’ve been trying to get them to do,” Williams said. “We were focused and this was the best we’ve hit all year.”
VHS looked to be in good shape after giving up just two runs in the first, one of which came on Jones’ lead-off home run to right.
But Natchez pitcher Keneshia Jackson struck out two in VHS’ first at bat to leave the score at 2-0. The Lady Bulldogs then struck for six runs in the second to go up 8-0.
Vicksburg’s only runs came in the second and fifth, and both were made off Natchez errors. Kelli Brewer and Savannah Pritchard had the only hits, both coming in the fourth inning.
Natchez, meanwhile, got a 4-for-4 game from Rochlyn Champlin and Jones was 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBIs. Cacey Champlin had three hits, including a double, while Veralene Thompson knocked in two off two hits. Meisha Ivory also had two hits and scored three runs.