Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
LAKELAND â€" The Moccasins didn’t give Christine Clark much to work with in game one Wednesday night, but neither did Clark require much. In game two, when the pitchers needed a little bit more, the Moccasins provided that too. The end result was a sweep of Mount Olive, as Clark scattered five hits for a 1-0 win in the opener, before Dayna Hunn, Randi Grimes, and Brittany Martin all drove in two runs during a 9-7 win in the nightcap.
Clark’s pitching was the highlight in game one, as the senior tossed her third shutout of the season and made an RBI single by Martin in the bottom of the first inning hold up for the entire game.
The Moccasin bats provided a lot more highlights in game two, with Hunn, Grimes and Martin picking up key hits during a six-run fourth inning that brought the Mocs back from a 6-2 deficit. They also got another remarkable effort from freshman pitcher Lauren Wolfe, this time in relief, before Clark came on at the end to hold down the Trojans in the final two innings. The sweep gives Florida Southern an 11-game winning streak going into its first conference series of the year.
Clark, who is now 8-1 with two saves and a 1.09 ERA, struck out five and walked none in addition to allowing five hits in the 1-0 win. All five hits were singles, two of the infield variety, and only once did the Trojans (11-7) have more than one in an inning. None of them got further than first base either, with catcher Devin Mathews throwing out Kayla Vorhees attempting to steal in the top of the sixth.
That throw by Mathews may have clinched the game. Katie Moore, who had two of Mount Olive’s hits in the game, followed the caught stealing with a single up the middle, a play that may very well have resulted in a run for the Trojans. Instead, it was their final hit as Clark got the last four outs without issue, and needed just 62 pitches and an hour and 12 minutes to notch her sixth complete game of 2012.
The Moccasins (13-2) were held to only four hits by Christie Wright, who struck out three and walked two, but fell to 2-3 with the loss. The only run she allowed came in the first inning when Grimes walked with two out, took second on a wild pitch, and came home on Martin’s single to center. They got just one runner into scoring position the rest of the game, in part because Mount Olive catcher Kassie Lowe twice caught Steph Graziani trying to steal second.
Graziani had one of Florida Southern’s four hits, with the others coming from Martin, Grimes and Khaliah Brown.
Game two saw Florida Southern fall behind 6-2, as Mount Olive scored one in the first and five in the second to knock Moccasin starting pitcher Liana Derringer out of the game early. Wolfe replaced her, and despite walking in the Trojans’ sixth run of the game, she prevented any further damage and kept them off the board for the next three innings.
Meanwhile, the Moccasins erupted for six runs in the bottom of the fourth, picking up five hits and one walk in the inning. Two Mount Olive errors also extended the inning and made five of those runs unearned. It was an error that started the inning, allowing Sam Gale to reach safely. Mathews followed with a single, and after she was replaced by pinch-runner Allasyn Lieneck, the Mocs executed a double steal to put two in scoring position for Hunn. The freshman rightfielder drove both of them in with a single up the middle to get the Mocs within 6-4.
A hit by Brown and a walk by Graziani loaded the bases before Mount Olive pitcher Carly White got Karlyn Scott to hit into a force play at the plate. The next play, however, completely changed the game. With the bases still loaded, Grimes singled into right center to tie the score at six, and when the throw from center was off target at the plate, Scott was able to score the go-ahead run with Grimes moving all the way to third. Martin made it hurt even more with an RBI single that put the Mocs ahead 8-6.
The Mocs added another run in the fifth inning when Mathews drew a leadoff walk and came in to score on a two-out double by Brown, a ball that was nearly an inside-the-park home run. Vorhees had a long run into the left centerfield gap where it was hit but got to the ball in time. She nearly made a tough catch, but was unable to hold on to the ball as she went to the ground, allowing Brown to reach safely with her third hit of the doubleheader.
Mount Olive was able score again too in the top of the sixth on an RBI pinch-hit single by Katie DeVenuto, but FSC head coach Chris Bellotto went to the bullpen to bring in Clark for Wolfe. With runners at first and second and one out, Clark struck out Rebekah McDaniel and Jennifer Jones to keep it a 9-7 game. She then worked around a single and an error in the top of the seventh for her second save of the season.
Wolfe was the winning pitcher, improving her record to 3-1. Despite four hits and six walks in 3.2 innings, she kept the damage to a minimum. Wolfe struck out six, and was also the beneficiary of a base-running mistake by the Trojans in the fifth inning. After Ragan Taylor reached on an error to start the inning, Jones hit a fly ball into deep right field that Hunn tracked down for the first out. Taylor went back to the bag at first to tag up, and made it safely into second, but when the Mocs appealed, Taylor was called out for leaving too soon.
The Trojans got a hit and a walk after that before Wolfe induced another fly ball for the final out of the fifth, ending that inning without allowing a run either.
The Mocs out-hit the Trojans 11-8 in the game, with Grimes and Martin each picking up three.
Robbin Kennedy had three hits for Mount Olive, which also received 10 walks, but stranded 13 base runners. Two of the Trojans' five runs in the second inning came on bases-loaded walks, while Kennedy's two-run single was one of only two hits in that inning.
Florida Southern will open Sunshine State Conference play on Friday night with a single game at Saint Leo beginning at 7:00 p.m.
