DAVIE â€" Locked in a 4-way tie for third place in the Sunshine State Conference standings when their 3-game series began, Florida Southern and Nova Southeastern knew when it ended, one team would move closer to first, and the other would have their work cut out for them the rest of the way. With its 10-3 victory on Wednesday, Nova completed a series sweep that has them climbing the ladder once again, and Florida Southern trying to stay in the race.
The Moccasins (19-15, 5-7) scored the first run of the afternoon when Bethany Boomer started the game with a triple into the rightfield corner and came home on a fly ball by Lindsey Powell. The lead didn’t last very long, however, as the Sharks came right back with four in the bottom of the first after putting their first four hitters on base.
Noemi Luciani led things off for Nova (30-12, 8-4) with a single, Rachel Talenfeld followed with a walk, and #3 hitter Lauren Lopez doubled both of them home. When cleanup hitter Jessica Hernandez walked, the Mocs went to the bullpen and replaced Brittaney Alderman with Christine Clark, but the Sharks still scored two more runs before the inning was finished.
Clark struck out Dani Caron for the first out before a double steal by Lopez and Hernandez put runners at second and third. Lopez scored on a ground ball by Brittney Lamb and Dana Bergner singled in Hernandez to put the Sharks ahead 4-1 lead at the end of the first.
Florida Southern fought back with two in the third, an inning that started when Heather Raulerson led off with a single, stole second and took third on a throwing error. Erin Foley got her home with a ground ball to short, cutting the Sharks’ lead to 4-2. Powell then singled with two out and scored the Mocs’ third run when a base hit by Clark got by centerfielder Patty Rivero and rolled all the way to the warning track.
Nova Southeastern answered Florida Southern’s two runs in the top of the third with six in the bottom of the third. The Sharks sent 10 batters to the plate, got four hits and took advantage of three Moccasin errors in the inning. Three straight one-out singles by Caron, Lamb and Bergner produced the first of those six runs before the wheels came off for the Moccasins. After Patty Rivero doubled in another run for Nova, the Mocs turned to Morgan Brown in the pitcher’s circle. She got four straight ground balls, but the Mocs misplayed two of them for errors before the inning came to a close.
Brown completely shut down the Sharks the rest of the way, but the damage was done. The junior retired the final 10 batters of the game and did not allow a hit or a walk in 3.2 innings of stellar relief. Only one of the 13 batters she faced hit the ball out of the infield, a lazy fly ball caught by leftfielder Dani Blake in foul territory.
Lexi Sarradet and Devin Higginbotham combined to limit Florida Southern to six hits, with Higginbotham earning the win to improve to 8-3. The Moccasins scored all three of their runs against Sarradet before Higginbotham came in to start the fourth inning. The freshman allowed only two hits, one to Brown in the sixth, and one to Ashlinn Rodgers in the seventh.
Florida Southern returns home for a 3-game series with Barry on Thursday and Friday, with Thursday’s game starting at 7:00.
