Mustangs win first ACCC Tournament title in dramatic fashion

The latest chapter in Northeast Alabama Community College softball team's storybook second season now includes a storybook ending to the program's first Alabama Community College Conference Division I Softball Tournament appearance.

Sophomore Francesca Lumpp hit a game-winning, walk-off two-run home run to lift the top-seeded and No. 3-nationally ranked Mustangs to a 4-2, eight-inning championship game win over second-seeded and No. 9-ranked Wallace State Saturday at Veterans Park in Alabaster.

NACC players poured out of the dugout at the sound of Lumpp's bat making contact on what was a no-doubt homer.

"It's the best feeling ever to do something for your team like this," Lumpp said.

Northeast Alabama has now added an ACCC Tournament/National Junior College Athletic Association Region 22 crown to a growing list of accomplishments and firsts during the program's second season of existence. The championship also gave the Mustangs the conference/region's automatic berth in the NJCAA Division I Softball World Series, which is May 25-31 at Choccolocco Park in Oxford.

"We're not done yet — we've got another goal, the national championship. But this is pretty special," said NACC head coach Joe Guthrie. "Especially it being our second year and the league being as good as I've ever seen it. To my knowledge, I don't believe we've ever had a year that every team won a game in (the tournament). It speaks to what kind of league we had. I'm really happy we finished on top. Give the credit to our players, the coaches, administration. Having three ex-NCAA Division I coaches on our staff at a junior college, that's a testament to (NACC president) Dr. (David) Campbell and everyone that's supported us. It's a really good place to be."

NACC (51-4) finished 3-0 in the tournament. After defeating fourth-seeded Gadsden State 8-3 on Thursday, the Mustangs won back-to-back thrillers against Wallace State, which needed a win Saturday to force a winner-take-all championship final on Sunday.

"I was in the third base (coaching) box thinking about how this was just really good softball," Guthrie said. "In the tournament, a game of this magnitude, we didn't make a defensive error. They made some big plays, we made some. As good a game as I've been involved in. Hopefully we'll gain some momentum from this."

For the second straight day against NACC, Wallace State used a home run to take a 1-0 lead. But NACC answered immediately in the bottom of the first, tying the score at 1-all when sophomore Chloe Hatch doubled and scored two batters later on freshman Marti McCluskey's RBI single. The second inning was a tough-luck frame for the Mustangs, who saw Morgan Perkins robbed of a home run by the Wallace State left fielder and had the inning end with a runner thrown at home plate trying to score on Lorelai Sullivan's single. But NACC responded the next inning, going in front 2-1 in the third when sophomore Kiley Weston singled and scored on Lumpp's RBI double. After Wallace State managed to tie the game 2-all in the top of the seventh, the game went to the bottom of the eight, where McCluskey's blooper to shallow right field took an awkward bounce away from the converging second baseman and right fielder for a lead-off triple. Lumpp then launched the second pitch she saw over the left-field fence for her eighth home run of the season to start the NACC celebration.

"She hits a lot of balls in the air, so she was a good person to have up with a runner at third base and less than two outs," Guthrie said. "I was pretty confident she would do something. But as soon as I saw it off the bat, I knew it was a no-doubter."

Lumpp called being greeted by her ecstatic teammates at home plate "a sweet moment."

"We think of each other as sisters," said Lumpp, who finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. "We've just blended together so well. The first week we practiced together I knew this team was something special. It feels like we've played together for years."

McCluskey (RBI), Hatch and Weston also went 2-for-4 for NACC while Sullivan and Breanna Wilson both singled and Emma Hindmon walked.

Lumpp, McCluskey, Hatch and freshman pitcher Addie Edwards, the ACCC Tournament MVP, were selected to the all-tournament team.

Edwards pitched all eight innings during Saturday's win, allowing two runs on four hits and one walk while recording six strikeouts. The right-hander, who improved to 29-0 on the season, was the winning pitcher in all three NACC tournament victories.

"This is what we knew we would get from her," Guthrie said of Edwards, the 2026 ACCC Pitcher of the Year. "She won a lot of championships in high school and in travel ball. In these moments, she shines."

Edwards wasn't surprised that the tight-knit Mustangs found a way to win.

"This team is just so close. We love each other and we do this for each other," she said. "We're so happy for each other."