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Box Score 2
LAKELAND â€" If Karlyn Scott had been Florida Southern’s secret weapon prior to Saturday’s doubleheader with Saint Leo, then the junior outfielder has blown her cover. Scott had three hits in Saturday’s second game, with all three of them leading to Florida Southern runs, and Brittany Martin drove in runs in each game as the Moccasins split their doubleheader with the Lions.
Saint Leo (15-17, 3-3) took the first game 3-2, scoring three unearned runs in the top of the third inning, all of them with two out. The Moccasins (8-8, 2-4) out-hit the Lions, 7-6, but were held to just two hits and no runs over the last four innings by relief pitcher Megan Still. Steph Graziani had three of those hits for Florida Southern, while Martin had two.
The Lions were forced to use all four of their pitchers in game two, and Scott had hits off three of them leading to a 5-3 win by the Moccasins. The score was tied 2-2 after three innings of play, before the Lions used a leadoff walk by Danielle Moreda, an error and an RBI single by Elysha Agen to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth. Scott then helped the Mocs reclaim the lead in the bottom of the inning, and add an insurance run in the sixth.
Graziani led off the bottom of the fifth with a base hit, and with the Mocs down by a run, Scott was called upon to bunt. Instead, she beat out an infield single that gave the Mocs runners at first and second with none out. Erin Foley did put down a sacrifice after that, before Still, who was in as a relief pitcher for the second game in a row, got a strikeout for the second out. Christine Clark then hit a ground ball towards second, but Agen was unable to make the back-handed play as two runs scored for the Mocs.
Dezirae Parsons started the sixth inning for Florida Southern with a base hit, and the Mocs again moved the runner into scoring position with a bunt by Dani Blake. A ground out by Graziani moved Parsons to third, and brought Scott to the plate for the second inning in a row. She lashed a single into centerfield that scored Parsons and put the Mocs up 5-3. It also gave her seven hits in 16 at-bats since moving into the starting lineup, with five RBI during that time as well.
Saint Leo threatened in the top of the seventh when Moreda and Ashlee Sismilich started the inning with back-to-back singles, but Clark was able to finish the game with a strikeout, a fly ball to center and a foul pop-up to first. It was Clark’s second complete game victory in the 3-game series. Clark, who is now 6-4, gave up nine hits, and the Lions had at least one in every inning, but all of them were singles. She struck out five and walked two, and two of the three runs she allowed were unearned.
One of those runs came in the top of the first when the Mocs committed two errors that allowed Dianne Gonzalez to score after an infield hit. The Lions got another infield single in the second inning, but that was erased on a double play when Graziani made a running catch near the line in short rightfield and got the throw to Martin in time at first to double off Amber Martyn.
The Mocs tied the score in their half of the second when Clark singled and came home on a two-out hit by Parsons. Both teams then scored in the third inning, with Agen driving in the run for Saint Leo with a base hit to center, and Martin tying the game for Florida Southern with an RBI triple to deep right. That came after Scott had started the Mocs’ third with a single and stole second.
Parsons and catcher Heather Raulerson also played a role on defense in the third inning, and prevented Saint Leo from scoring another run when the Lions tried to steal home with two out. Parsons was able to get the ball back to Raulerson at the plate for the tag on Gonzalez, one of three runners Saint Leo lost on the bases in the second game of the doubleheader.
In game one, it was Florida Southern that scored in the first inning when Graziani led off with a single to left, was bunted to second by Scott, and came home on a base hit by Martin. But like Saint Leo would do later in the day, the Mocs gave up the lead.
Down by one, the Lions scored all three of their runs in the top of the third, and it began when Kasey Postupack reached on an error and stole second. Sismilich then also singled and swiped second base, giving the Lions second and third with none out. Postupack would score on a wild pitch by Liana Derringer to tie the game, before Saint Leo scored two more runs with two out to take a 3-1 lead. Those runs came in on singles by Brittany Yates and Sarah Boyd, with Yates reaching on an infield single that barely eluded Graziani diving for the ball near second base.
Scott scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the third, but Saint Leo went to the bullpen to start the fourth inning and brought in Still. The sophomore from nearby Plant City took control of the game for the Lions by pitching the final four innings and giving up just two hits. She was personally responsible for eight of the final 12 outs, with two strikeouts and five ground balls hit back to her in the circle. One of those ground balls came after Martin had singled leading off the bottom of the sixth, and Still turned it into a double play. She ended up with the win to improve to 8-5.
Derringer took the loss, falling to 2-2, but did not allow an earned run in five innings. She was replaced by Morgan Brown, who kept the Lions off the board in the final two.
Florida Southern will be in Clermont at the National Training Center for its next two games, a doubleheader at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon against Franklin Pierce (NH).
