No. 3 Gulf Coast bombs East MIssissippi with 5 HRs

PERKINSTON – Two members of a stellar class helped celebrate Mississippi Gulf Coast's Sophomore Day in style Saturday at Ross-Smith Field.

Brittany Cooley hit a three-run home run to end an 11-2 win in Game 1 victory over East Mississippi in five innings, and Hannah Melendrez had two home runs in a 10-2 win in six innings in the second game.

"We hit five home runs," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said. "I can't say enough about that. East Mississippi's not a bad team. I think we just did what we had to do."

The Lady Bulldogs have won 15 straight to improve to 39-3. They're 23-3 in the MACJC and clinched second in the MACJC regular season when Copiah-Lincoln lost to Itawamba on Saturday.

Gulf Coast travels to Wesson to close out the regular season against the Lady Wolves on Tuesday. They Lady Bulldogs will open the playoffs Friday when they start a best-of-three series in Perkinston.

East Mississippi, Pearl River and Northwest are in a fight for the last two playoff spots.

In the first game, Izzy Werdann literally dented the scoreboard with a three-run, opposite-field home run in the third. Cooley's shot cleared the scoreboard.

"It's a great win on Sophomore Day, but I think it's just a step closer to Co-Lin," Cooley said. "We have to get ready for them and we have to be on our A-game for them."

Sophomore Kristen Gardner improved to 8-1 with a four-hitter, striking out seven and walking one.

Kelli Berry had two doubles, and Lexie Mathis had two hits, including a double. Kaitlin Lee and Deborah Elmore had two hits.

Melendrez hit a three-run homer in the first, and a solo shot in the third. They were her ninth and 10^th of the season, coming after a stretch where she hadn't homered since March 19.

"It's been a while," she said. "I was way past due. It makes me feel so much better. It refreshes me. I've been doing well at the plate with my bunts, but to swing the bat and see it go over after a while, it feels really good."

In fact, she dropped a perfect bunt single that hugged the third-base line in the fifth.

"How many people like can hit home runs like her and then bunt for base hits?" Long said. "She does a great job of that. She hit two high, long home runs."

Melendrez also had a sliding catch in the fifth.

Cooley added two doubles in three hits in the second game, and Molly Murphy slugged a three-run home run to end the game in the sixth.

Lee, another key sophomore on the team, allowed three hits to improve to 19-1.

"I'm proud of our team," Long said. "That's 85 wins for these sophomores. That's a big day, too."