Mustangs stay perfect with sweep of Georgia Highlands

The Northeast Alabama Community College softball team's perfect start to the 2026 season continued Wednesday with two more impressive victories.

The Mustangs improved to 18-0 by sweeping a doubleheader with Georgia Highlands College in Rome, Georgia.

NACC, which is in only its second season playing college softball, is ranked No. 3 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I national softball rankings.

The Mustangs won the opener against Georgia Highlands 4-0 before capping the sweep with a 10-0 Game 2 victory.

NACC freshman pitcher Addie Edwards continued to dominate hitters, tossing a one-hit shutout in Game 1. The right-hander improved to 9-0 in the circle after pitching her seventh shutout and recording eight strikeouts, no walks and one hit batter. Edwards pitched to just two batters over the minimum during her seven innings of work while throwing 51 of her 68 pitches for strikes.

Game 1 was scoreless after four innings, but the Mustangs struck for a run in the fifth when freshman Lorelai Sullivan tripled and scored on a wild pitch before adding two runs in the sixth on freshman Austin McNeece's two-run double and a seventh-inning insurance run on Sullivan's RBI single.

Sullivan and McNeece both finished 2-for-3 and sophomore Chloe Hatch went 2-for-4 for the Mustangs, who got one hit each from freshman Marti McCluskey, sophomore Francesca Lumpp and freshman Breanna Wilson along with one walk each from sophomore Kiley Weston and freshman Emmorie Burke.

NACC took charge of Game 2 with a five-run second inning that included a bases-loaded RBI walk by Hatch, a two-run single by Weston and a two-run double by McCluskey. Weston's RBI single upped the NACC lead to 6-0 in the fourth, and the Mustangs put the game out of reach in the seventh inning thanks to Lumpp's two-run home run, freshman Morgan Perkins' RBI single and freshman Savannah Cantrell's RBI double.

NACC totaled five extra-base hits (four doubles and one home run) and 13 hits in all during the victory. The Mustangs got two hits each from Weston, McCluskey, Burke and Perkins, one hit and two walks from Hatch and one hit each from Lumpp, Cantrell, sophomore Jada Hampton and freshman Olivia Acuff.

Three Mustang pitchers combined to pitch a four-hit shutout. Sophomore Kayleigh Warnock picked up her third win in the circle after tossing 3 2/3 innings in relief. Starter Erin Harrelson recorded three strikeouts over 2 1/3 innings while reliever Skylar Branch posted two strikeouts while pitching the final inning.

The Mustangs are back in action Thursday, hosting Roane State (Tennessee) Community College at Nathaniel Ledbetter Stadium. First pitch for Game 1 is 1 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at gofan.co/app/school/AL100680. Students receive free admission by showing a current NACC ID.