WESSON – Copiah-Lincoln split a MACJC softball double header with Itawamba on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Wesson. The Lady Wolves (3-1) put their ace, Brooke Gonzales, in the circle for game one and watched her shut down the Lady Indians (1-1) in a 6-1 Co-Lin win. Game two was a reversal of fortunes as the Lady Indians could do no wrong in an 11-1 win in five innings.

Co-Lin 6, Itawamba 1 

Gonzales, an All-State selection as a freshman, was stellar in handling the Lady Indians in their season opener. Her one mistake on the day was a solo homerun given up to Ashley Langford in the top of the fifth. Gonzales (2-0) gave up two hits, walked one, and struck out three in six innings of work. Freshman Rheagan Welch, a Bogue Chitto alum, came in and pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

Lady Wolves head coach Allen Kent was pleased with the strong outing from his sophomore right hander. “Brooke did a great job even when her off-speed pitches weren’t working, she really mixed things up and stayed ahead in the count,” said Kent.

Gonzales got plenty of support from her offense as the Lady Wolves pounded out 12 hits. Co-Lin loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first, but only produced one run, coming off of a walk by Meghan Johnson. Sophomore center fielder Missy Romero led the Lady Wolves hitters by going 2-3 with a RBI double in the fourth.

Romero’s clutch hit would come after the Lady Indians intentionally walked Co-Lin designated hitter Breanna McKenzie to get to Romero. The Lady Wolves would go on to score three runs with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. McKenzie would go 1-2 at the plate and score three of the Lady Wolves runs.

“We were able to put some runs on the board, but thought we left too many runners stranded,” said Kent.

Montana Hawkins took the loss for Itawamba.

Itawamba 11, Co-Lin 1 

The Lady Indians are the two-time MACJC North Division champs and in the second game they sent a standout freshman, Hannah Johnson, to the circle. Johnson, a native of Branson, Mo., allowed one run and one hit in four innings of work.

“Their pitcher threw a really good game and we didn’t adjust as well as I would have liked. We hit some balls pretty hard, but they made all the plays,” said Kent.

Payton Sheffield (0-1) took the loss for Co-Lin after giving up five runs in three innings. The Lady Indians would score 11 runs on 10 hits as Co-Lin would end up using four pitchers in the game.

“We made too many errors, wild pitches and passed balls and they capitalized on our mistakes. We looked like two different teams out there today. Our pitchers have to do a better job of getting ahead in the count,” said Kent.

Kristen Byrd and McKenzie would be the only Lady Wolves to hit safely in the game.

The Lady Wolves return to action on Monday, Feb. 17 when they travel to Holmes in Goodman for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.