MELBOURNE â€" With Christine Clark pitching for Florida Southern and Brianna Barth in the circle for Florida Tech, there weren’t many scoring chances for either team Friday. In truth, there may have been only one for each of them. The Moccasins converted, the Panthers couldn’t, and Florida Southern held on for a 1-0 win.
Last year, the same pitchers also started a 3-game Sunshine State Conference series with a 1-0 game that saw Clark pitch a perfect game, Barth give up just four hits, and the Mocs score in the bottom of the sixth. This year, Clark allowed just three hits (the Panthers’ only base runners), and Barth surrendered just five, but the Mocs did their scoring early with a single run in the second inning. That’s not to say there weren’t some tense moments, but Clark kept them to a minimum as the Moccasins (31-14, 8-8) ended a 9-game winning streak by the Panthers (24-22, 10-9).
Florida Southern scored its run in the top of the second, taking advantage of an error that allowed Brittany Martin to reach base leading off the inning. A one-out bunt single by Clark moved her to second, both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Martin scored a fly ball to center by Devin Mathews. It was a close play at the plate, but Martin was able to slide around the tag by Panther catcher Lindsy Dugan.
The Moccasins’ only serious threat after that came in the sixth inning when Randi Grimes and Martin came up with back-to-back 2-out singles, but Barth got out of that spot with a strikeout. The Mocs also had singles from Steph Graziani in the third inning, and Christie Bailey in the sixth, but could not muster another run against Barth, who suffered her fourth 1-0 loss of the season, and ninth in the last two years. She struck out five and issued no walks in this one, but saw her record fall to 11-12.
Clark improved to 22-8, and set down the Panthers in order in five innings Friday. The only time Florida Tech had two base runners in an inning came in the fifth when Emily Densem and Taylor Peterson both singled. Clark struck out Amanda Bueno though to end the threat. She needed just three pitches to get the Panthers in the bottom of the sixth, though Barth smoked one to center that forced Karlyn Scott to make a tough play for the out.
Clark finished with seven strikeouts and no walks while posting her ninth shutout of the season. She lowered her ERA to 0.89.
Florida Southern and Florida Tech will meet again on Saturday in a doubleheader at 1:00 p.m.
