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LAKELAND â€" Morgan Brown gave Florida Southern everything she had on Saturday, and maybe even a little bit more. But every hero needs a villain of equal strength, and like the Joker in Batman, Julie Wisniewski played that role oh so well. Brown pitched 12.1 scoreless innings for the Moccasins, earning a 4-0 win in game one, but Wisniewski’s 7th-inning RBI double and a two-run homer by Susan Jallo gave the Spartans a 3-1 victory in game two.
Saturday’s doubleheader marked senior day for the Moccasins, though it was largely a group of juniors who dominated the day. Brown held the Spartans to only four hits in the opener, striking out four and walking three in her second shutout of the season. The Mocs also got a key hit from Peggy Alex in each game and a two-run double from Lindsey Powell in the first one. In fact, it was three straight singles by juniors Dani Blake, Heather Raulerson and Alex that produced the Florida Southern run in game two before Wisniewski and Jallo spoiled the finish.
After going 3-for-3 in the series opener on Friday (a 4-3 win by Tampa in which she played a heavy hand), Wisniewski was 3-for-6 on Saturday and opened the doubleheader with a ringing double. Brown worked around it though, as well as a leadoff double by Brittany Datillo in the third, giving the Mocs a chance to score first in the bottom of the third.
The Moccasins scored that run with four straight singles by Alex, Dezirae Parsons, Bethany Boomer and Erin Foley. Foley’s hit drove in the run and the Mocs could have scored more, but Tampa pitcher Kari Walsh snared a liner back to the circle hit by Christine Clark, and was able to double up Parsons at third to end the inning.
The Spartans kept the Mocs off the board in the bottom of the fourth with another double play, but it was only a temporary reprieve. In the fifth, a one-out single by Boomer followed by a double from Foley put two runners on base for Powell, who lashed a double to right center that give the Mocs a 3-0 lead. Elli Howell gave the Mocs another double in the inning, this one scoring Powell.
Holding a 4-0 lead, Brown got into trouble in the top of the sixth when an error, a walk and an infield hit by Cassie Barnes loaded the bases for Tampa with only one out. Again she escaped when Howell fielded a ground ball hit to her right at first base and made a quick throw to the plate for a force out, and Foley stopped another one hit to third that stranded all three Spartan runners.
Brown then finished off the game with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, improving her record to 5-2.
Walsh (8-7) suffered the loss for Tampa, as the Moccasins tagged her for 13 hits in six innings. Boomer and Foley each had three of them, while Howell and Parsons had two apiece.
The Moccasins looked to Brown again in game two, and the junior responded by nearly pitching another shutout. She gave up four hits, walked two and struck out one, finally giving way to Clark with one out in the top of the sixth inning. At that point, she had a 1-0 lead, but the Spartans had runners at first and third after Becky Vyzas reached on an error and Jessica Tejas singled to right center.
Pinch-runner Brie Walton stole second, but Clark struck out Barnes, and Ashley Carrea flied out to center, keeping the score 1-0. Clark (10-11) then got two outs in the top of the seventh, but an error in between kept the door open for Tampa, and Wisniewski made it hurt. The junior shortstop drove in the tying run with a double to deep leftfield and scored moments later in front of Jallo’s home run down the leftfield line.
That quickly, Tampa had a 3-1 lead and Heather VanLandingham held on to it with a perfect seventh inning, the ninth time this year Florida Southern lost a game during an opponents’ final at-bat. VanLandingham (12-10) scattered seven hits, did not allow an earned run, struck out one and walked two in her 18th complete game of the season.
The only run the senior allowed came in the bottom of the second inning after the Mocs got consecutive one-out singles from Blake and Raulerson. Alex made it three in a row with a slow bouncer down to third, and all three Moccasins took an extra base when Jallo’s throw went wide of first.
VanLandingham had more trouble in the top of the third when she walked Foley to start the inning and Powell reached on another UT error. Clark singled up the middle and it took a perfect throw from centerfielder Cassie Barnes to cut down Foley on a close play at the plate. Wisniewski then short-hopped a grounder hit by Howell and turned it into a 6-5-4 double play that ended the inning.
Brown ended up with a no-decision, though it was the four time in six conference starts she allowed one run or less. She went 2-2 in those six games with a 0.93 earned run average, giving up a total of six runs in 37.2 innings.
The split with Tampa ended Florida Southern’s season with a 26-22 record overall, and a 10-14 mark in the Sunshine State Conference. The Spartans (20-17, 11-10) still have a series remaining with Eckerd.
