POPLARVILLE — Tenth-ranked Jones County Junior College routed host Pearl River in MACJC South Division softball doubleheader action here Tuesday taking lopsided 10-1 and 9-1 victories.

The visiting Lady Bobcats improved to 24-3 overall and 10-2 in division play with the sweep, while the Lady Wildcats dropped to 11-14 and 3-5.

“We’re at a huge crossroad as far as the post-season is concerned,” said 10th-year PRCC head coach Leigh White. “Another sweep and we could be doomed.”

The top four finishers in the MACJC North and South divisions qualify for April 26-28's state tournament set at the home field of the North Division champion.

“Our remaining 14 games of the regular season are against division opponents and we’ve got to get down to business,” White added.

Heading into Tuesday’s twin bill, Jones was first in the South, followed by Mississippi Gulf Coast, East Central, Copiah-Lincoln and Hinds (tied for fourth), Pearl River, and Southwest Mississippi.

In Tuesday’s first game, the Lady Wildcats committed a whopping six errors, including two against the first two Lady Bobcat batters to open the game. After Relanda McFarland and Haley Brooke Smith reached via those initial  defensive miscues, McFarland scored on Angela Land’s ground out to third. After PRCC starter Heather Hester of Hancock County High struck out Karley Crosby, Brooke David singled in Smith to make it 2-0 before Hester K’d Rebecca Dunn for the final out.

In the bottom of the frame, The River responded with what would be its only run of the contest. Lead off Whitney Waits of Oak Grove High outran a grounder to third for a base hit, then Janessa Dedeaux of Poplarvillel High  singled to left. The duo advanced to second and third off Hester’s sacrifice bunt before Alyssa Graeter of Poplarville High sacrificed Waits home to make it 2-1. Brittany LeBlanc out of North Vermillion High in Lafayette, La., grounded out to third to end  the inning.

After a scoreless second, JCJC padded its lead in the third when Bethany Volking led off with a double to left field and Crosby wound up at second off an up-the-middle base hit. David’s ensuing sacrifice fly to center scored  Volking, while Crosby was nailed at home for the second out. Rebecca Dunn doubled to right center before Jessmar Walters grounded to second for the final out.

After the Lady Wildcats went three up, three down in the bottom of the frame, the Lady Bobcats added their fifth and sixth runs in the fourth when Lexus Griffith drew a one-out walk and McFarland tripled to the right field  fence and scored when PRCC’s cutoff man mishandled the throw from right fielder Shalyn Stevens of Picayune High. Hester then retired two straight.

Again, PRCC went three up, three down in the bottom of the inning before committing three defensive miscues in the top of the fifth that contributed to three more JCJC runs.

With one out, David wound up at second off an error before Dunn walked. Both scored off back-to-back errors before Land singled to left and Griffith followed with an RBI sacrifice to make it 8-1. Land was nailed at home  for the final out.

PRCC managed a base runner in the bottom of the inning when Neely McCrary reached on Jones’ only error of the game.

JCJC left a runner stranded at third in the sixth, while Pearl River went three up, three down in the bottom of the frame.

The Lady Bobcats scored their final two runs in the seventh when David led off with an up-the-middle single, Dunn walked, and Megan Hyatt smacked an RBI single to center field an out later. Dunn scored off Griffith’s pop  out to second before McFarland grounded to second for the final out.

For the fifth time in the contest, Pearl River went three up, three down in the bottom of the inning to end the game.

Starter Ginger Lonergan (11-1) picked up the win in going the distance, giving up two hits and striking out six; while Hester (4-3) also went the distance. She gave up nine hit, struck out two, and walked four.

McFarland led JCJC at the plate with a triple and single (two RBIs), while Dunn and Volking (one RBI) both doubled and Crosby, David (two RBIs), Hyatt (one RBI), Land, and Smith all had base hits. Griffith had two RBIs,  while Walters had one.

Dedeaux and Waits singled for PRCC, while Hester had an RBI.

The Lady Wildcats committed six errors in the game to the Lady Bobcats’ one.

In the nightcap, the first went scoreless, but Jones went up 2-0 in the second frame. River starter LeBlanc walked lead off batters David and Dunn before striking out Walters and Land. Griffith then singled in David and  Dunn before being thrown out at second for the final out.