Box Score
SAINT LEO â€" Megan Still managed to keep a potent Florida Southern lineup in check Friday night, giving her catcher, Brittany Yates, a chance to strike two crucial blows that ended the longest winning streak for any team in the Sunshine State Conference this year. Still limited the Moccasins to just four hits, while Yates drove in four runs with her two hits, lifting Saint Leo to a 5-1 win over Florida Southern.
Neither team had a hit in the first two innings, but each team did put the leadoff runner on base once. For the Moccasins (13-3, 0-1), it happened in the top of the first when Steph Graziani was hit with the first pitch of the game. The Mocs got her to second with a sacrifice bunt, but left her there, and didn’t have another base runner until Karlyn Scott had their first hit in the top of the fourth.
Saint Leo (15-9, 1-0) stranded a leadoff runner in the bottom of the second when Ali Lamb drew a walk and also moved to second on a sacrifice, but the Lions converted their next scoring chance into two runs.
McKenzie Burns gave Saint Leo its first hit with a one-out bunt single in the bottom of the third. When Ashlee Sismilich put down another bunt to move Burns into scoring position, the play ended with an error and runners at first and third. Though Moccasin pitcher Christine Clark got a pop-up for the second out, Yates ripped the next pitch to deep left for a double, giving the Lions a 2-0 lead.
The Mocs came back for one run in the top of the fourth when Scott beat out a ground ball to short for an infield single, stole second and later scored on a single by Clark. Before the rally could go any further though, Still got out of the inning, and the Lions tacked on two more runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth.
Yates did the damage again, driving in both runs with an opposite field single into short right center. The Lions had loaded the bases with a pinch-hit double by Victoria Cooper, a Florida Southern error and infield single by Alex Garris. Yates then dropped a single just over the heads of a drawn-in infield to give the Lions a 4-1 lead.
A triple by Diane Gonzalez and a bunt single by Torrie Weindorf gave Saint Leo its final run in the sixth.
After the hits by Scott and Clark in the top of the fourth, the Moccasins had only two more base runners off Still. Khaliah Brown’s single in the sixth was one of them, and a single by Devin Mathews in the seventh was the other.
In addition to four hits allowed, Still struck out three and walked no one in improving her record to 6-5.
Clark fell to 8-2, going the distance and giving up eight hits and one walk with five strikeouts. Only two of the runs against her were earned. The loss ended her own 7-game winning streak and snapped the Moccasins’ 11-game winning streak.
Florida Southern and Saint Leo will meet again on Saturday in a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.
