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TAMPA â€" Last year in Lakeland, Julie Wisniewski and Susan Jallo spoiled Florida Southern’s senior day with late-inning heroics that gave Tampa a come-from-behind win and a series victory over the Moccasins. This year, it was senior day for the Spartans, and both of those players again took center stage. Wisniewski had two key hits in Tampa’s 3-1 win in the opener, and Jallo reached base three times and scored three runs in a 6-1 win by the Spartans in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Moccasins (20-20, 8-10 Sunshine State Conference) had hits in all but one inning of the opener, but the second inning was the only time they had more than one. Randi Grimes led off that inning with a double and held at second when Christine Clark reached on a throwing error. Kahliah Brown’s grounder to first moved the runners up before Heather Raulerson singled into center to give the Mocs a 1-0 lead.
Tampa (35-7, 16-5, ranked #18) ended up tying the score in the bottom of the third, using two hits and a stolen base to knot the game at one. Wisniewsi led off with a single and was erased on a fielder’s choice when Jallo couldn’t get the sacrifice bunt down, but Jallo made up for it by stealing second with two out. Brittany Hipple then hit a bouncer into the hole that was just beyond the reach of both third baseman Erin Foley and shortstop Dezirae Parsons, but it was enough to get Jallo in from second with the tying run.
Two innings later, Wisniewski again led off with a hit, this time starting the fifth with a double down the leftfield line. Jallo followed that with a triple to right, giving Tampa a 2-1 lead, and Becky Vyzas made it 3-1 with a sacrifice fly.
After that, Tampa pitcher Kari Walsh worked around an error in the sixth and an infield hit by Steph Graziani in the seventh to pick up her 13th win of the season against only three defeats. She allowed seven hits, struck out three and walked one. She also had to deal with leadoff hits by Graziani, Grimes and Dani Blake in the first, fourth and fifth innings, and a leadoff walk by Graziani in the third, and got out of trouble in another inning when Vyzas picked a runner off third.
Christine Clark fell to 17-12 with the loss, giving up three runs on eight hits, with two strikeouts and no walks in five innings.
In game two, Jallo scored Tampa's first two runs after she singled in the first inning, and was hit by a pitch in the third. She scored the first one all the way from second base when the Mocs tried to turn a double play on Hipple's ground ball up the middle, sliding in ahead of a throw from first baseman Brittany Martin. Then, after being hit leading off the third inning, she moved to third base on a single by Vyzas, and came home on an errant throw as the Mocs tried to prevent Jallo from going first-to-third on the play. Vyzas later came home on a single by Joseph, giving UT a 3-0 lead.
The Spartans added to their total in the bottom of the fifth after an error and walk put the first two runners on base, with Joseph driving in one run with a sacrifice fly, and another scoring on a wild pitch. Jallo then led off the sixth with a triple down the rightfield line and scored on another sac fly by Vyzas.
Florida Southern was able to prevent Deanna Henriott from tossing another shutout by pushing across a run in the top of the seventh. Foley led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a ground out by Martin, and came home on a base hit by Grimes.
Henriott finished off the game after that, improving to 22-4 on the season. She gave up five hits, including two by Khaliah Brown, struck out four and walked one. Morgan Brown suffered the loss Florida Southern, falling to 0-3.
Florida Southern will be at home for its next SSC series, beginning Thursday night with a single game against Florida Tech at 7:00 p.m.
