FROSTPROOF â€" The combination of leadoff batter Jess Lanci and cleanup hitter Maureen Sandidge proved to be a devastating combination for Webber International Wednesday night, and after a rough start, pitchers Kiana Levy and Ashley Quigley held Florida Southern down in the late innings to pick up a pair of wins. The Warriors came from behind in each game to defeat the Moccasins 6-3 and 8-4.
In the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader, the Moccasins (26-9) scored three times in the top of the third inning to take a 3-0 lead, but the Warriors (23-18) did the rest of the scoring with one in the bottom of the third and five in the bottom of the fourth. The big inning for Webber included four hits, a walk and a Moccasin error.
The Moccasins also had four hits in their half of the third when Sam Gale and Karlyn Scott started the inning with back-to-back singles and scored on a one-out single by Randi Grimes. Grimes took second on the throw to the plate and scored on a double by Brittany Martin, but the 3-0 lead didn’t last very long.
Gale was making her first start as a pitcher for the Moccasins, and the Warriors tested the freshman in the second inning when Sandidge led off with a single, and the Mocs twice failed to get an out on attempted sacrifice bunts. That loaded the bases for Webber with none out, but Gale worked out of it. After striking out Dallas King, Gale got Yahtea Benton to hit a pop-up into short right that was caught on the run by second baseman Steph Graziani with her back to the infield. Almost halfway down the line from third, Sandidge was forced to return to the bag, and the Warriors never got her home as Cody Windham grounded out to end the inning.
Gale and the Moccasins weren’t as fortunate in the next two innings when the Warriors scored six times to take a 6-3 lead after four. The first of those runs came in the bottom of the third when Sandidge doubled in Lanci, who had started the inning with a double. The same players were also a big part of the 5-run fourth, with Lanci adding an RBI triple that tied the game and scoring the go-ahead run on a single by Ashley Peterson. After a Florida Southern error, Sandidge delivered a two-run double that made it 6-3.
Sandidge ended up with three of Webber’s eight hits out of her cleanup spot, and Lanci had two from the leadoff spot. Scott and Gale each had two of Florida Southern’s seven hits in game one.
Gale also suffered the loss in her first career start, as the Warriors scored six runs (four earned) on seven hits against her. She struck out three and walked one in 5.0 innings of work. Lindsay LaChance pitched a scoreless sixth inning to finish the game for the Moccasin pitching staff.
Levy went the distance for Webber, improving to 8-10 while giving up three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and no walks. She gave up just two hits over the final four innings.
In game two, the Moccasins again scored first when they put together three hits for two runs in the top of the first inning. Following a single by Graziani and a double by Grimes, Devin Mathews launched a pitch to deep right center that barely stayed in the park. Bouncing high off the fence, it went for a two-run double that still gave Florida Southern a 2-0 lead.
Quigley, who was pitching game two for Webber, exacted a measure of revenge in the bottom of the first when she tied the game with a two-run homer to center, but Mathews wasn’t finished with her. After a single by Martin in the top of the third inning, Mathews got the home run that eluded her earlier in the game when she crushed one to left center to put the Mocs back on top, 4-2.
It was all Webber after that, however, and Lanci and Sandidge were again key components to the comeback. When the Warriors scored once in the bottom of the fifth to make it a one-run game, Lanci walked to load the bases, and Quigley later forced in a run with another walk. When the Warriors scored five in the bottom of the sixth, Lanci again walked and scored just as she did in the first inning, and Sandidge added a back-breaking two-out, two-run single that plated the final runs of the 8-4 win. Webber also got a two-run triple from Windham as part of the 5-run sixth inning.
Lanci ended up 1-for-1 with three walks in game two, and was one of eight Webber batters who each had one of the team’s eight hits. She had three hits and three walks in the doubleheader, while Sandidge had five RBI in the doubleheader.
Graziani, Grimes and Mathews all had two of Florida Southern’s nine hits in the nightcap, but Quigley held them to three hits in the final four innings.
Quigley upped her record to 8-2, striking out three and walking one in addition to the four runs on nine hits. Lauren Wolfe fell to 5-4 for Florida Southern, giving up eight runs on seven hits, with five strikeouts and five walks.
The Moccasins will play again on Saturday when they host Palm Beach Atlantic in a doubleheader beginning at 3:00 p.m.
