MIAMI SHORES â€" Sara Lovestrand set two school records with one swing of the bat, and that one swing sure was a big one. Even so, it took an even bigger defensive play by outfielder Natalie Lang to save the game and lift Florida Southern to a 3-2 win over Barry in the first of a three-game series.
Florida Southern (32-10, 10-3) had just three hits in the game but made them count. Two of those hits came from Lovestrand, who singled and scored in the first inning, then homered in the fifth. It was the eighth home run of the season for senior shortstop, breaking a school record initially set by Susan Young in 1985, and tied by Wanda Graham in 1993 and Autumn Lynch in 1999. Angela Williams has also hit seven home runs this season.
The shot by Lovestrand came leading off the top of the fifth inning and gave the Moccasins a 3-1 lead. It also allowed her to set another school record with 121 total bases in a season. Shelly Davis held the old record with 118 in 1996.
After the home run, Florida Southern did not have a base runner the rest of the game, instead relying on its defense and the pitching of Brittany Minton, who ran her record to 12-5 win the win. Minton scattered eight hits, walked just one and pitched a complete game without striking out a single batter. She worked her way out of trouble more than once, with the most crucial instance coming in the bottom of the fifth, immediately after the home run by Lovestrand.
The Buccaneers (22-11, 7-3) had put their first two batters on base, courtesy of a Moccasin error and a single by Ashley Likens. Minton got cleanup hitter Amanda Goelz on an infield pop-up before Natalie Heeley blooped one into short leftfield. The ball looked like it would drop in for a hit that would have at least loaded the bases, but Lang came streaking in from left field to make a sliding catch. After rolling over and holding onto the ball, she fired to second baseman Peggy Alex to double off Grace Collins for what turned out to be an inning-ending double play.
The Bucs were able to score in the bottom of the sixth when they again started the inning with two base runners. This time it was a single by Jessica Tabor that fell out of reach just behind the third base bag, and a bunt single by Sara Hipson. Amber Durkin then drove a pitch into left center that Dani Blake caught on the run for the first out of the inning, and the Mocs caught a break when Brittany Anderson was called out for stepping on the plate while fouling off a pitch in her at-bat. Shyla Rider was able to get the run in for Barry with a two-out single, but the Mocs got out of the inning when third baseman Ashley Hunt made a nice play on a bunt by Collins and barely threw her out at first.
After that, the seventh inning was almost anti-climactic as both teams went down in order.
The Mocs knew they would have their hands full facing 2008 SSC Pitcher-of-the-Year Amber Jack, and Jack delivered another strong performance. Other than one pitch to Lovestrand, she did little wrong. Yet the Mocs reached her for two unearned runs in the top of the first inning, and the Bucs were playing from behind the rest of the night.
The game started with Lovestrand hitting a single up the middle and Alex putting down a sacrifice bunt. The Bucs tried to make a play at second though and Lovestrand easily beat the throw, which also allowed Alex to reach. A double steal put runners at second and third with two out and Jack almost got of it when Lang hit a ground ball up the middle. However, the ball got under the glove of Hipson at shortstop and both runners came in to score.
Elli Howell then singled and Jack hit Hunt with a pitch to load the bases, but the Mocs were unable to score again. They had just two base runners over the final six innings, one of them on an error, and one of them the home run by Lovestrand, as Jack (15-7) struck out six and walked none.
Barry’s defense had a lot to do with that. Hipson made a spectacular play at shortstop to rob Williams of a hit in the fifth inning, and Howell lost two hits on tough plays by Heeley at third base and Likens at second.
The Moccasin defense kept things close too, with Lang and Hunt making clutch plays late in the game, and Howell foiling a Barry squeeze play in the bottom of the second. The Bucs had gotten on the board with an RBI single by Tabor and had runners on second and third with none out when they tried to squeeze in Heeley to tie the game. Howell came up with the pitch, threw to Hunt at third, who in turn threw back to the Moccasin catcher. Howell made the catch, blocked the plate and out down the tag in quick succession for the out. Two pop-ups followed and the Mocs were out of the inning, clinging to a 2-1 lead they’d eventually turn into a one-run victory.
Florida Southern and Barry take the field again on Saturday for a doubleheader that begins at 1:00 p.m.
