ST. PETERSBURG â€" Now it’s “officialâ€. Chris Bellotto has her 1,000th win â€" again. Two years after earning her 1,000th overall win, Bellotto reached the same milestone in fast-pitch wins as Florida Southern downed Eckerd 9-1 in the first of a three-game series.
Now in her 28th season as Florida Southern’s head coach, Bellotto had already earned her 1,000th win back in 2007, but the NCAA only recognizes fast-pitch competition in its record book. Her first 80 came while the Moccasins were still a slow-pitch program in the early 1980’s. The win over Eckerd allows Bellotto to “officially†join a list of 13 coaches who have reached that milestone, including four at the Division II level.
The Moccasins (27-9, 5-2) began their scoring with two runs in the top of the first inning, and never really let up. They scored in all but the second inning, and among their 10 hits were six doubles and a home run. Even the outs were productive. Peggy Alex had two sacrifice bunts to set up a pair of runs, and the Mocs also had two sacrifice flies.
They were equally efficient in the field. Shortstop Sara Lovestrand and centerfielder Dani Blake both made big plays that denied Eckerd hits, and the Mocs executed a run-down play on the bases that involved both their right fielder and left fielder. They even topped that by turning a triple play in the fifth inning that Blake started from deep center.
Lovestrand had three hits for the Moccasins, two of them doubles, but it was her single in the first inning that got everything started. After Alex bunted her over and Lindsey Powell walked, a single by Angela Williams and double by Elli Howell gave the Mocs a 2-0 lead.
The Mocs added two more runs in the third inning when Williams doubled and scored on an error, and Ashley Hunt doubled in Natalie Lang. Lovestrand then doubled leading off the fourth inning and scored on a fly ball by Powell to put the Mocs ahead 5-1.
A home run by Lang leading off the fifth inning made it 6-1, before the Mocs put the game away with a three-run sixth. Again it started with a Lovestrand double. Alex followed with an RBI single through the right side of the infield, Lang doubled in another run, and a sacrifice fly by Hunt knocked in the final run of the night. The double by Lang was the 200th hit of her career.
Eckerd prevented a shutout by scoring in the bottom of the third when Mackenzie Dawson singled in Alex Sasso. The Tritons (14-24, 0-7) had two hits and a walk in that inning, but ran themselves out of any more runs. Danielle Sedoris got hung up between second and third when Sasso hit a grounder to Lovestrand, who started a run-down sequence that ended with Lang coming in from left field to take the final throw from Powell, who had come in from right.
There were more shenanigans in the fifth inning, again involving Sasso. After Janielle Sedoris and Danielle Sedoris reached with a single and a walk, Sasso drove a pitch to deep left center that Blake flagged down on the warning track. Danielle Sedoris was all the way to second base and couldn’t get back to first before a relay throw from Lovestrand doubled her off. Then Janielle Sedoris was called out for returning to second, then leaving again with pitcher Christine Clark in possession of the ball inside the pitcher’s circle.
It was the first triple play turned by Florida Southern since February 22, 1998, when the Mocs pulled one off in a game against North Florida.
Clark had just come into the game for Florida Southern in relief of Morgan Brown, who pitched the first four innings and faced two batters in the fifth. Brown earned her 10th win of the season against two losses, allowing one run on four hits with three strikeouts and four walks. Clark finished the game for her, getting the final six outs while facing just four hitters.
Florida Southern and Eckerd resume their series on Saturday with a 1:00 doubleheader in St. Petersburg.
