BOONEVILLE – A trio of former Northeast Mississippi Community College softball players made the most of their spotlight on ESPNU during the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s (SWAC) softball championship game on Sunday, May 2.

Former Lady Tigers Lisa Jansen (Dietzenbach, Germany) and Shanika ‘Boo’ Randle (Houston) suited up for the Mississippi Valley State University Devillettes as they battled it out against former Northeast pitcher Amy Blakeney (Nashville, Tenn.) and the Lady Braves of Alcorn State.

Blakeney and Alcorn State snapped Mississippi Valley State University’s six-year run of SWAC championships with a 6-3 decision and earned a berth an automatic qualifier in the NCAA regional tournament when the regions are selected on Sunday, May 16 at 9 p.m. CST on ESPNU.

Jansen, who was the SWAC’s Newcomer and Pitcher of the Year in 2009, and Randle led the Devillettes to the top seed out of the SWAC’s eastern conference while Alcorn State was the second-seed from the eastern conference.

Blakeney and the Lady Braves had to battle back after dropping their first game in the SWAC Tournament 5-4 to Grambling State. Alcorn State then reeled off five straight wins including two on Sunday to claim its first SWAC championship since 1997.

Alcorn State battled back to knock off Texas Southern (3-2), Jackson State (6-3) and Grambling State twice (13-1 and 11-2) in advancing to the SWAC Champions game against Mississippi Valley State University.

Mississippi Valley State, on the other hand, had an easier road to the championship game. The Lady Devillettes knocked off Arkansas-Pine Bluff 6-1 and registered back-to-back wins against Alabama State 13-6 and 8-0 in advancing to the title bout.

While at Northeast, Jansen put together a 34-16 record on the mound for Lady Tigers and threw over 240 innings for Northeast. During her two years in Booneville, Jansen fanned 318 batters and held opposing batters to under a .200 batting average.

Randle appeared in 47 games for the Lady Tigers during the 2007 season as the Lady Tigers won their seventh North Division title in a row with a 14-4 mark in the division. During her freshman year at Northeast, Randle hit .353 with six home runs and had 30 RBI and was named a preseason National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-American prior to the 2008 season.

Both Jansen and Randle were named to the NJCAA All-Region XXIII team, the MACJC All-State and the MACJC All-North Division team along with Callie Weaver during the 2008 season.

Blakeney transferred to help Alcorn State University during the holiday break in 2009. The Nashville native carried the load for the Lady Tigers during the 2008-09 season when she led the team in batting average with a .375 mark in 88 at bats for the Lady Tigers.

On the mound, Blakeney posted a 4-9 record in 18 games with 14 starts and two saves. While pitching 88.1 innings for the Lady Tigers, Blakeney fanned 57 batters while limiting opposing batters to a .228 batting average.

Following her freshman season, Blakeney was named to the MACJC second team All-North Division squad.