LAKELAND â€" Randi Grimes gave the Florida Southern offense a lift four different times Tuesday, and the last time it happened, Brittany Martin and Dayna Hunn made sure it led to a win. In game one, Grimes drove in two runs to help Florida Southern defeat Coastal Georgia 7-0, and in game two, she drove in one in the first before starting a sixth-inning rally with another hit that helped the Mocs pull out a 3-2 victory.
The Moccasins (30-12) also got six shutouts innings from Christine Clark in game one, and a combined 3-hitter in game two from Sam Gale and Lauren Wolfe. Christie Bailey went 3-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and a sacrifice in the doubleheader, and Karlyn Scott hit safely in both games as well, while also scoring three runs, driving in two, and stealing two bases.
The first two batters of game one for Florida Southern both reached on errors, and both of them scored. Grimes drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly and Martin drove in the second with a triple.
The Mocs pushed their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Bailey singled, Gale walked, and Scott bunted both runners into scoring position. After getting the out at first, the Mariners threw back to third base to try for another out, but the throw was high, and instead allowed Bailey score on the play.
Florida Southern did the rest of its scoring in the bottom of the sixth following a walk by Clark and base hit by Devin Mathews to open the inning. Bailey’s sacrifice bunt moved both runners along, and Scott would later single up the middle to knock in a pair, giving the Mocs a 5-0 lead. Steph Graziani and Grimes followed with two more RBI singles to provide the final margin.
That also allowed the Mocs to pull Clark after six innings in which she gave up only three hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. The senior is now 21-6 on the season. Liana Derringer finished the shutout by working around two hits and a walk in the top of the seventh inning.
One of those seventh-inning hits came from Carrie Hines, who had two of Coastal Georgia’s five hits in the game.
In game two, the Moccasins again scored in the first inning, with Scott reaching on a leadoff single, stealing second, moving to third on a ground out by Graziani, and coming home on another ground out by Grimes. That would be the Mocs’ only run though until the bottom of the sixth.
Trailing 2-1 at that point, the Moccasins put together a rally that started with a single by Grimes. She was replaced by pinch-runner Allasyn Lieneck, who ended up at third when Martin followed with a double to center. With runners at second and third and one out, Coastal Georgia pitcher Becca Hewitt uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Lieneck to score the tying run and Martin to take third. Hunn came to the plate then and hit a bouncer to Hines at first, whose only play was to take the out at the bag as Martin scored the go-ahead run.
That play made a winner of Wolfe (6-4), who pitched the final three innings. The freshman gave up two hits and a walk in her first inning, with an error in the middle of it, and the Mariners scored both of their runs on a single by Chelsea Copeland. That put the Mariners (4-22) up 2-1, but Wolfe took control of things after that and retired the final seven batters of the game.
The Mocs were held to five hits by Hewitt, who had no strikeouts and no walks. Copeland had two of Coastal Georgia’s three hits in game two, and was also hit by a pitch.
Florida Southern will play again on Thursday night in West Palm Beach in a 6:00 p.m. doubleheader against Palm Beach Atlantic.
