CLERMONT â€" Christine Clark turned in another dominating performance Wednesday, and the Moccasins backed her with 10 hits, but one bad sequence of events in one inning of game one led to their undoing. In game two, it was one bad inning that did the same, and allowed 22nd-ranked Dowling to sweep Florida Southern, 3-2 and 8-0 at the National Training Center.
The first four innings of game one were scoreless, though with a slightly different storyline. Clark held Dowling (13-1) to just one base runner during that time, a hit batter in the second inning, while the Moccasins (14-11) had five hits and a walk off Felicia Mendoza. The Mocs got singles from Dani Blake and Steph Graziani to start the third, but were unable to score, and in the fourth, they got a leadoff double from Brittany Martin and a single from Randi Grimes, but were again kept off the board.
That changed in the top of the fifth though when Heather Raulerson and Blake started that inning with back-to-back singles, and the Mocs got both of those hits across the plate. Graziani bounced into a fielder’s choice that forced out Blake, but promptly stole second to give FSC runners at second and third with one out. Karlyn Scott then hit a slow roller to second that allowed Raulerson to score, and Graziani came home on a single by Erin Foley.
The way Clark was pitching, with no hits and eight strikeouts through four innings, it looked two runs would be enough for Florida Southern; but the Golden Lions capitalized on back-to-back 2-out errors by the Moccasins in the bottom of the fifth, and used them to score three runs.
Clark walked Amber O’Malley with one out in the fifth to give Dowling only its second base runner of the game before striking out Kristil Hofmann. Two errors followed that, with O’Malley scoring on the second one to give Dowling its first run. Moments later, they had their first hit when Danielle Messina singled into center, tying the game at two. Jessica Roque followed with another single, and the Golden Lions had a 3-2 lead.
The Mocs had hits in both the sixth and seventh innings, but Mendoza kept them from scoring again. Florida Southern finished with 10 hits off Mendoza (6-1), including three by Blake and two by Grimes.
Clark held the Golden Lions to just three hits, walked one and had a career-high nine strikeouts. She fell to 11-5 despite those numbers and not allowing an earned run.
Game two started badly for the Moccasins as the Golden Lions scored six runs in the top of the first inning, all of them after a two-out error. The Lions’ first run scored directly on the miscue before Roque delivered a 2-run single and Jillian Minix hit a 2-run double. Erica Fischetti’s RBI single made it 6-0.
Dowling finished the game with two more runs in the top of the fifth inning, with Minix and Fischetti driving in those runs too.
That made a winner of Jamie Stalter, who was making her first appearance of the season. She allowed five hits, walked one and struck out two. Blake had one of those five hits, giving her four in the doubleheader. Martin also doubled for the second game in a row, and Raulerson delivered a double as well.
The combination of Lindsay LaChance and Liana Derringer gave up 11 hits to Dowling, with Roque going 3-for-3 with two doubles, and Minix going 2-for-2 with two doubles.
Florida Southern will return to Sunshine State Conference play Friday in Miami Shores when it takes on Barry in a single game at 7:00 p.m.
