LAKELAND â€" First Brittany Martin went deep; then the game went deep into extra innings before Erin Foley made the most of a second chance, and hit one just deep enough to score the winning run. Martin’s home run in the bottom of the sixth inning tied the score, and Foley doubled in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th, lifting Florida Southern to a 3-2 victory over Nova Southeastern.
The Moccasins (24-20, 12-10 Sunshine State Conference) scored in the bottom of the second and the Sharks (31-19, 9-13) tied it in the top of the third. Both teams would score in the sixth inning before neither scored over the next 5½. During that time, the Sharks had three hits, but left two of them at first base and another in scoring position after Peggy Alex and Christie Bailey turned a sharp double play to end the top of the ninth. The Moccasins, meanwhile, went hitless from the seventh through the 11th, but got two of them in the 12th to produce the winning run.
Steph Graziani, who’d already reached twice in the game after being hit by a pitch, started the 12th with a single into center, and Karlyn Scott bunted her to second. Foley, who had flied out to end the ninth after Graziani had been hit and stole second, then stepped to the plate with another chance to win it for Florida Southern. The sophomore third baseman came through with a ball just over the glove of right fielder Brittany Phillips that allowed Graziani to score the winning run in Florida Southern’s first extra-inning game of the year.
Christine Clark went all 12 innings for Florida Southern, and Lexi Sarradet did the same for Nova Southeastern. Clark ended up with the win, improving to 21-12, giving up two runs on seven hits, striking six and walking four. The Sharks had six base runners against her in the first three innings, but only six in the final nine. Sarradet (13-5) had a similar night, giving up six base runners in the first two innings, but only eight the rest of the way. The Nova senior allowed six hits in the game, walked two and struck out four. She also hit four batters (Graziani and Scott twice each), but none of the HBP’s came around to score.
One of the walks did, however, as Alex reached on one with one out in the second inning and scored on a double by Heather Raulerson. The Sharks came right back though, tying the game in the top of the third when Katie Kelton doubled and came home on another double by Gina Bondarenko.
The score remained 1-1 until the sixth inning when Laura Saladrigas walked and scored on a double by Phillips, the second two-base hit of the night for Nova’s right fielder. She had three of the Sharks’ seven hits in the game.
Nova’s 2-1 lead didn’t last very long. Martin led off the bottom of the sixth with her seventh home run of the season, pulling an 0-1 pitch down the line in left. It was the second straight game in which the Moccasin first baseman hit either a go-ahead or game-tying home run in the fifth inning or later.
Both teams threatened in the seventh inning, Nova when Dani Milan led off the top half with a base hit up the middle. The Sharks tried to bunt that runner into scoring position twice, but Martin and Foley each threw out a runner at second before Kelton flied out to center.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Dani Blake tried to bunt for a hit and it looked like the Sharks would throw her out, but Blake knocked the ball loose on a tag play at first, giving the Mocs a leadoff base runner. A fielder’s choice and an intentional walk to Martin loaded the bases with, but Sarradet escaped when she induced Randi Grimes to pop up in foul territory for the final out.
That sent the game to extra innings, where it turned into the Moccasins’ longest home game since the notorious 35-inning doubleheader with Barry in 2001. The teams went 21 innings in the first game that day, followed by a 14-inning game in the nightcap.
Florida Southern and Nova Southeastern will end the regular season on Friday afternoon with a doubleheader beginning at 1:00.
