PALM BEACH GARDENS â€" After a late-inning home run gave Palm Beach Atlantic a 2-1 victory in game one, Florida Southern nearly pulled out a late-inning win of its own in the second game of Thursday night’s doubleheader. Down by six runs at one point, the Moccasins staged one of their greatest come-backs ever, only to see the Sailfish score with two out in the bottom of the ninth for an 8-7 win in game two.
The first game was dominated by pitching and defense, but it was also decided by the long ball. Brittany Martin provided the Moccasins (30-14) with their only run when she led off the top of the fourth inning with her seventh home run of the season, and though the Sailfish had just four hits off Christine Clark, one of them was a 2-run homer by Camille Benito with two out in the bottom of the sixth.
The Sailfish (26-21) had just three base runners through the first five innings, and it looked like Martin’s home run might be the only scoring in the game. In the bottom of the sixth though, Miranda Welch singled sharply into right field with one out, and two batters later, Benito hit a line drive over the fence in left center for her sixth home run of the year.
That made a winner of Mary Pippin (16-11), who scattered seven hits, struck out four and walked none. Clark fell to 21-7 with the loss, striking out three and walking one in addition to the four hits.
Karlyn Scott and Dayna Hunn each had two hits for the Moccasins, who had base runners in all but one inning, but left five of them in scoring position. Two of them were in the sixth inning when the Mocs weren’t able to capitalize on a single by Randi Grimes and a double by Hunn.
The Mocs were also victimized by PBA shortstop Mari Stokes on two occasions. With Hunn at second with two out in the top of the second inning, Christie Bailey hit a low line drive that appeared headed up the middle for an RBI single. Stokes dove to her left though and caught it just off the dirt for the final out of the inning. She made a nearly identical play in the third inning with Scott at second and Steph Graziani at the plate.
Khaliah Brown gave the Mocs a final opportunity with a 2-out single in the top of the seventh, and Scott hit the ball hard after that, but it was right at Stokes.
Scott hit the ball equally as hard to start the second game and this one left the park for her first career home run. It was the first time since March 5, 2010, when Bethany Boomer did it against Columbus State that a Moccasin led off a game with a home run. It put Florida Southern up 1-0, but Palm Beach Atlantic scored the next seven runs to take a 7-1 lead after three innings.
The big blow for the Sailfish was struck by #9 hitter Ashley Roberts, whose third-inning grand slam produced the final four of those runs. The 2-out blast followed an infield single, an error and a walk.
PBA’s 6-run lead didn’t hold up, however, as Florida Southern erased all of it with six runs in the top of the fifth inning. All six of those runs scored after Mary Pippin had retired the first two batters of the inning.
The uprising started when Scott hit a ball down the first base line that bounced all the way into the right field corner for a double. Graziani followed with an RBI single to make it a 7-2 game. When the Sailfish committed two errors on the next play, Graziani was able to score all the way from first, and Grimes ended up at second. The Mocs then picked up another base runner when Martin was hit by a pitch, and Hunn followed with a single to right center that plated Grimes with the third run of the inning.
Now trailing only 7-4, the Mocs still had two runners on for Clark, who started game two of the doubleheader as the designated player. Down 1-2 in the count, Clark finished off the 5th-inning comeback with a 3-run homer to left center, tying the score at seven. It was Clark’s first home run of the season.
The Mocs had a chance to go ahead in the top of the seventh when Grimes led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice by Martin and took third on an infield single by Hunn. That brought Clark to the plate again, and the senior ripped a pitch that was caught by third baseman Mackenzie Johnson, who was able to double up Hunn scrambling to get back to the bag at first.
The Sailfish also had two runners in the bottom of the seventh, but the Mocs went back to Clark in the circle, who worked out of trouble to send the game to extra innings.
Using the international tie-breaker, the teams had equal scoring chances, but Roberts struck again for PBA in the bottom of the ninth. Her 2-out single found the hole between short and third, driving in Stokes with the winning run.
Chris Donovan (5-3) earned the win for PBA with four scoreless innings of relief, allowing just two hits, striking out one and walking none. Clark, who was the third Moccasin pitcher of the game, fell to 21-8, pitching the final 2.1 innings, and giving up just one hit, with two strikeouts and two walks.
Florida Southern opens a 3-game series at Florida Tech with a single game on Friday at 3:00 p.m.
