Jones County prevails for first national title
The Bobcats earn their first title after back-to-back runner-up finishes
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
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7 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | X | 18 | 13 | 0 |
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | BOX SCORE | PHOTOS | HIGHLIGHTS | AWARDS
Clinton, MS – In the program's fourth national championship game appearance, Jones County (MS) captured its first-ever NJCAA DII Softball National Championship. The Bobcats defeated Phoenix (AZ) 18-2 for the title.
Jones County outscored its opponents 69-12 en route to the championship, the first NJCAA softball title for a school from Mississippi across all three divisions. The Bobcats collected double-digit hits in all five wins including 15 home runs.
The No. 2 seed Bobcats used four home runs and five doubles in the championship win to pull away from fourth-seeded Phoenix. Kelsha Loftin, who hit a pair of home runs in the title game was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament while teammate Taylor Murray was named Most Outstanding Defensive Player for her efforts at shortstop.
Phoenix, who owns the most NJCAA DII softball titles with eight, finished as runners-up with a 52-10 record. The Bears placed four players on the All-Tournament team.
- Loftin boated a .611 batting average throughout the tournament while driving in 12 runs for the potent Bobcat offense.
- Sophomore Karli Perque, the 2017 Dudley® DII Pitcher of the Year picked up three wins in the circle to earn All-Tournament team honors for the Bobcats.
- Jones County head coach Chris Robinson was named the Coach of the Tournament
- The Bobcats championship run comes after back-to-back years as finishing as runners-up to LSU Eunice (LA).
- LSU Eunice, who holds five national titles, finished in fourth place.
- Des Moines Area (IA), the top-ranked team through a majority of the regular season, finished third behind Molly Jacobsen, the tournament's Most Outstanding Pitcher and Morgan Nealey, the Most Outstanding Offensive Player.
