CARROLLTON, GA â€" Florida Southern and 2nd-ranked Alabama-Huntsville chipped away at each other Saturday afternoon, but while the Chargers pushed some of their chips across the plate, the Moccasins couldn’t follow suit. Both teams had eight hits, but the Chargers turned theirs into three runs for a 3-0 victory at the Wolves Invitational.
Alabama-Huntsville (13-1) scored runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings, and Whitney Hawkins kept Florida Southern (8-8) off the scoreboard despite two different innings where she allowed three hits. The Mocs also had hits in the first and fifth innings before Hawkins (6-0) completed her second shutout of the season.
With the game scoreless in the bottom of the second, Florida Southern loaded the bases with one out on three straight singles by Erin Foley, Dezirae Parsons and Brittaney Alderman. Hawkins got the situation somewhat under control when she struck out Dani Blake on a 3-2 pitch, then went 3-1 on Bethany Boomer. Boomer put the ball into play with a grounder hit to the right of the pitcher’s circle, but Hawkins was able to field it and flip to first for the final out of the inning.
After Huntsville had scored in the third and fourth innings, the Mocs put together another threat in the bottom of the fourth. Lindsey Powell reached on a leadoff single and moved to second on a ground out by Foley. Parsons then picked up her second hit of the game with a ground ball that was fielded deep in the hole by shortstop Kellie Johnson. There was no way for the Chargers to get Parsons on the other side of the infield, but Powell got caught between second and third, and Johnson was able to get an out by throwing to third baseman Beth Lawson instead.
The Mocs picked up another base runner when Alderman singled sharply into left, but Hawkins again worked out of trouble without allowing a run. Heather Raulerson later singled with two out in the bottom of the fifth before Hawkins retired the final seven batters of the game.
Alabama-Huntsville used three hits in the top of the third to score its first run, with Krystal Johnson’s single plating a leadoff double by Kelli Long. Sarah Nickey then hit a towering home run in the top of the fourth that dropped just over the leftfield fence and barely out of the reach of Boomer.
A bad-hop single by Emily Roach combined with a bloop double by Lawson gave the Chargers their fifth-inning run.
Even in defeat, the Moccasins got good pitching from Christine Clark and Morgan Brown. Clark gave up three runs on seven hits, with strikeouts and no walks in five innings of work. Brown pitched the final two innings, gave up one hit, struck out two and walked no one. She also turned a 1-6-3 double play after giving up a single to Johnson in the sixth.
