Owens Draws No. 2 Mississippi Gulf Coast To Open Nationals

Makayla Burtscher and the Owens softball team will open the national tournament against No. 2 seed Mississippi Gulf Coast. Photo by Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Makayla Burtscher and the Owens softball team will open the national tournament against No. 2 seed Mississippi Gulf Coast. Photo by Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Posted: May 11, 2015

By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College softball team will open the 2015 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament against one of the nation's best teams.

No. 15 Owens (31-16) will take on No. 2 seed Mississippi Gulf Coast (45-11) at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The winner will take on the winner of the game between No. 7 Lincoln Land (43-12) and No. 10 Sauk Valley (44-8) at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. The loser of each game will face each other at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Mississippi Gulf Coast enters the tournament having won 16 of its past 17 games. After losing 13-2 to No. 2 ranked Jones County Junior College to open its regional tournament, MCG reeled off four straight wins including a 3-1 win over No. 1 LSU-Eunice, a 6-4 win over No. 2 Jones County and a pair of wins over No. 11 East Central to win the Region 23 District M championship.

MGC is led offensively by Kaitlin Lee (.377), Deborah Elmore (.367, 45 RBI), Kamryn Theriot (.358, 30 RBI, 43 R, 35 BB), Catelyn Williams (.331) and Brittany Cooley (.325, 31 RBI). Lee also doubles as the team's top pitcher. She is 18-3 with a 1.88 ERA over 138 innings with 63 strikeouts.

Owens, meanwhile, also enters the tournament on a hot streak having defeated its three opponents in the Region XII District I tournament by a combined 33-4 score. The team is led offensively by Jacey Gray (.463, 53 R, 49 SB), Tori Weidinger (.407, 49 RBI, 12 2B, 11 HR), Katelyn Jensen (.404, 16 RBI) and Makayla Burtscher (.396, 50 R, 6 2B, 8 3B, 5 HR, 23 RBI, 39 SB).

Other top hitters include Emily Young (.383), Brittany George (.378, 17 2B, 37 RBI), Paige Younker (.365, 38 RBI) and Josie Hall (.364).

In the circle, Lesley Ducat is 18-5 overall with a 2.97 ERA and 155 strikeouts over 169.2 innings. Lexi Williams is also 10-4 with a 3.53 ERA over 87.1 innings.

Notes

This is the third appearance for Owens in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament. The team previously finished second in 2011 and fifth in 2005.

The first round matchup for Owens will be the team's first-ever against Mississippi Gulf Coast.

For full tournament seeding, click here

All games will be held at Traceway Park in Clinton, Miss.

Full bracket here