LAKELAND â€" Every time Christine Clark took the ball for Florida Southern Tuesday night, the Moccasin pitcher gave her team another chance to win. Her catcher, Heather Raulerson had only one chance really, and that was all she needed. With Clark pitching her third shutout of the season, and Raulerson driving in the only run with a second-inning single, Florida Southern defeated Warner 1-0 in the first game of their doubleheader. Raulerson then went 3-for-3 with two RBI in the second game, but the Royals prevailed in that one, 10-5.
Clark (11-4) was in control throughout, allowing just five hits, with two of them infield singles by Warner pitcher Rebecca Powell. The hits came spaced apart in five different innings, with only two of them reaching second base. Two of them were erased on double plays, and only Tabatha Martin, who singled leading off the game, reached third. Clark left her there, however, by striking out Kaitlyn Grimail, one of just two strikeouts for the junior lefthander in a game where she also did not walk a batter. It was the fifth consecutive start for Clark without a base on balls.
As well as Clark pitched, it took Raulerson’s bat to ultimately win the game. The Moccasins (14-9) had nine hits of their own, but only Raulerson could get one of them across the plate. It came in the bottom of the second inning when Randi Grimes led off with a double to centerfield and was bunted to third by Khaliah Brown. Raulerson then singled up the middle to bring Grimes home for what turned out to be the only run of the game.
The Moccasins then had two hits in each of the next three innings, along with a pair of walks but left five runners on base, had two thrown out stealing by Warner catcher Danielle Fennimore, and another trying to advance. Their nine hits in the game came from eight different players, with Clark picking up two.
Raulerson was even more potent in game two of the doubleheader, with a pair of RBI doubles and a single mixed in between them. Grimes had two hits and scored each time, and hit the ball well enough for two more, but the Royals (13-9) turned five of the eight walks they received into runs, used squeeze plays to score twice, and got 5.2 innings of strong relief pitching from Haylee Padgett for a 10-5 win.
In perhaps an ominous sign for the Moccasins, Tabatha Martin walked to start the game for the Royals, and after a sacrifice bunt, gave them a 1-0 lead on a base hit by Brooke Gary. After the Moccasins scored three times in the bottom of the second to knock Lindsay Martin out of the game, and the Royals tied it 3-3 with two in the top of the third, Gary would again give Warner the lead in the fourth when her bunt down the first base line brought in Hillary Fiocca. That came after the Royals had loaded the bases with none out on three straight singles.
This time, the lead held up for Warner, with Gary later hitting a double in the sixth and drawing a walk in the seventh to complete a perfect game at the plate. She eventually scored the Royals’ final run when Grimail delivered a two-run single to give them a 10-4 lead. Overall, the Royals scored four runs in the top of the seventh, with the two earlier ones coming on a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk to Powell.
Kaitlyn Wilbanks was also a big part of the Warner victory, going 3-for-3 with a walk in the #9 spot, including an RBI single in the fifth and a double in the four-run seventh.
Meanwhile, Padgett (6-3) held the Moccasins to two runs on five hits over the final five innings, striking out two and not walking a batter. That came after Raulerson had helped the Mocs take a 3-1 lead with three in the bottom of the second. Grimes had tripled with one out and came home on an error for one run before Raulerson drove in another with her first double of the night. A single by Christie Bailey got Raulerson to third and brought Padgett into the game. With runners at the corners and two down, Padgett got two ground outs to end the inning, though one of them by Dani Blake scored Raulerson with the third run of the inning.
After that, Padgett gave up just one hit over the next three innings (Raulerson’s fourth-inning single) before the Mocs got to her for single runs in the sixth and seventh. Raulerson and Erin Foley drove in those runs for Florida Southern, but the Mocs could do nothing more and saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end.
Florida Southern will be on the road Tuesday afternoon when it travels to Clermont for a doubleheader against Dowling College at the National Training Center beginning at 1:30.
