LAKELAND â€" Christine Clark did just about everything she could do to help Florida Southern win the first game of its doubleheader with Eckerd, before Morgan Brown and Elli Howell took over in game two. Clark pitched a 3-hit shutout and went two-for-three with three RBI to lead the Moccasins to an 8-0 win; and Brown tossed her own shutout in game two, with Howell picking up two hits and two RBI in a 5-0 victory.
Florida Southern (19-12, 5-4) completed a weekend sweep of Eckerd (10-23-1, 2-7) by shutting out the Tritons in all three games. On Friday, Brittaney Alderman gave up just one hit in a 1-0 win by the Moccasins, and Saturday it was Clark and Brown who did the honors. It was the first time the Mocs went through a conference series without allowing run since April of 2008, when they did it to Lynn. Since the SSC went to a 3-game series format in 2004, the Mocs had never had three different pitchers throw complete game shutouts until Saturday.
With Florida Southern’s offense operating at full capacity in game one, Clark only had to pitch five innings as the Mocs won by the 8-run rule. Clark faced the minimum of 12 batters through the first four innings, though Kristen Schurr had singled down the leftfield line to start the second. She was erased, however, when Dani Blake got to the ball quickly, and the Mocs were able to catch Schurr trying to scramble back to first.
From there Clark set down the next 10 Eckerd batters before giving up back-to-back singles in the fifth. She kept them on base though when Kelly Coston hit a ground ball back to the pitcher’s circle for the final out of the inning. The sophomore struck out four and walked none in her first shutout of the season.
The Moccasins gave her an early run when Bethany Boomer led off the bottom of the first with a hit, was bunted to second by Erin Foley and came home right after that on a throwing error by the Tritons. The Mocs then wasted a leadoff double by Howell in the second, but scored at least two runs in each of the final three innings to end the contest early.
Clark (6-7) helped her own cause with an RBI double in the third and a 2-run single in the fourth. The Mocs also scored two other runs in the bottom of the third on a wild pitch and an error.
Leading 6-0 in the bottom of the fifth, the Mocs again got a leadoff double from Howell, and this time used it to finish the game. Blake followed with a single to put runners at first and third, and another base hit by Peggy Alex drove in Howell. Foley eventually ended it with a base hit that knocked in Blake.
In game two, the Moccasins picked up right where they left off by scoring all five of their runs in the bottom of the first inning. Foley reached on a one-out error to get them started, and that was followed by three straight hits from Lindsey Powell, Clark and Howell. Clark’s hit was a double that drove in the first run of the game, and Howell’s was a single to left that scored two. When the Tritons botched things getting the ball back to the pitcher’s circle, Howell took off for third and scored on an errant throw to put the Mocs ahead 4-0.
After Alex singled and stole second with two out, the Tritons made another error to keep the inning alive, and Dezirae Parsons’ RBI single made it 5-0.
After getting five hits in the bottom of the first, the Moccasins were held to four the rest of the game by Eckerd pitcher Alex Sasso. That included one more for both Powell and Howell.
Brown (3-0) didn’t need any more runs, however, as she shut out Eckerd on five hits. She struck out five and walked none in pitching her first shutout of 2010, and the second of her career against the Tritons. Brown also got two ground ball double plays, one of them coming in the top of the seventh inning. The Tritons had gotten hits from Schurr and Kirsten Cox to start their final at-bat, but Parsons and Alex turned two up the middle to get Brown the first two outs. Ashley Hunt then threw out Emily Wiemken on a ground ball to third to end the game.
Sasso (2-5) suffered another difficult loss for the Tritons, allowing only two earned runs in the game. She also took a 1-0 loss in the series opener on Friday.
Florida Southern will be on the road for its next series, traveling to Nova Southeastern on Monday and Tuesday. Monday’s single game starts at 7:00 p.m., and Tuesday’s doubleheader begins at 4:00.
