Box Score
TAMPA â€" Florida Southern’s chase for the Sunshine State Conference title will have to continue one more day. That’s not the result the Moccasins were looking for when they went to the University of Tampa Friday night for the first of a 3-game series with the Spartans. Behind the hitting of Sam Becker and the pitching of Deanna Henriott, Tampa downed Florida Southern 3-2, leaving the Mocs still one win shy of clinching the league title.
Becker drove in the winning run with a 2-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning, and also reached base leading off the second and fourth innings when Tampa (26-11, 13-7) scored its other two runs. Meanwhile, Henriott held Florida Southern (41-12, 17-5) to just four hits and pitched out of trouble in the top of the seventh inning when it looked like the Mocs would take the lead.
Florida Southern had tied the game on an error by Tampa in the top of the sixth inning and was poised to score again in the top of seventh when Bethany Boomer led off with a pinch-hit single. It was Boomer’s school-record seventh pinch-hit of the season. Heather Raulerson bunted her to second, but Henriott got Dani Blake and Sara Lovestrand to keep the game tied at two.
In the bottom of the seventh, Tampa put its first two hitters on base when Florida Southern committed back-to-back errors. Brittany Minton, who’d entered the game in relief in the fourth inning, got Kallan Casey on a foul pop fly, then won a long at-bat with Becky Vyzas when the Spartan cleanup hitter flied out to leftfield. That brought Becker to the plate with two out. With a chance to win the game, the senior first baseman hit an opposite field flare down the right field line that was trouble right off the bat. Right fielder Lindsey Powell made a desperate diving attempt at the ball but it fell in front of her as Ashley Arcuri scored from second base on the play.
Tampa had to come back for the win after allowing Florida Southern to score a run in the top of the first inning. Lovestrand was hit by Henriott’s first pitch of the game, stole second and third, and came home on a base hit by Natalie Lang. The Mocs had a chance to score another run, but Angela Williams was thrown out at the plate by Jessica Keefe on a single by Elli Howell.
Becker got Tampa’s offense going in the bottom of the second inning with a leadoff single up the middle. Though she was erased on a force play, the Spartans still turned it into a run when Keefe delivered a two-out RBI single that tied the game at one.
Two innings later, Tampa took its first lead of the game, this time after Becker drew a walk to start the bottom of the fourth. Rachel Browning and Jessica Tejas followed with back-to-back singles, with Tejas driving in the run. That hit also knocked Moccasin starting pitcher Christine Clark out of the game, but Minton kept the score 2-1 by retiring the next three Tampa batters.
Henriott was still in control though, and going into the sixth, had held the Moccasins to just one base runner since Howell’s single in the first inning. The Mocs got another one though when Peggy Alex singled leading off the top of the sixth and took second on a ground out by Powell. After Williams flied out the left, Henriott nearly got out of the inning when Lang hit a grounder to Arcuri at second. However, Arcuri bobbled the ball, had no play at first and her throw to the plate was too late to get Alex who had never stopped running after leaving the second base bag.
Henriott was able to work around Boomer’s leadoff hit in the seventh though, and the win improved her record to 17-8. She struck out seven and walked two while allowing just one earned run.
Minton took the loss despite not allowing any earned runs, and only three hits in 3.2 innings. She fell to 16-7.
Florida Southern and Tampa both wrap up their regular season schedule on Saturday with a 1:00 doubleheader.
