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LAKELAND â€" All the Moccasins wanted was a chance, and after taking two-of-three from 14th-ranked Rollins in the final series of the regular season, now they’ve got one. With senior Christine Clark leading the way, and an offense that took advantage of the opportunities it was given, Florida Southern rebounded from a 4-3, 9-inning loss in game one of Friday’s doubleheader with an 8-2 win that may have kept them alive for a bid to the NCAA South Region Tournament.
Florida Southern (36-16, 13-10 Sunshine State Conference) began the week #9 in the regional poll, and Rollins (38-9, 19-5) was #3 in addition to its national ranking of 14th in the coaches poll. To make it to the NCAA postseason, the Mocs will have to jump over two teams, and one part of the equation was a strong showing against the Tars. Now they’ll have to wait on the rest.
A 3-game series between Tampa (ranked #2 in the region) and Nova Southeastern (ranked #8) will be played in Davie Friday and Saturday, and it’s likely a series win by the Spartans would allow Florida Southern to slide ahead of the Sharks. But with SIAC champion Miles already assured of a spot in the 8-team regional field, and not among the top eight in the rankings, the Mocs will also need to move ahead of either #6 West Florida or #7 West Alabama. To do that, they’ll need help from some teams in the Gulf South Conference, with that league playing its tournament this weekend in Mississippi. Both West Florida and West Alabama fell into the loser’s bracket on Friday, giving the Mocs hope.
Florida Southern defeated Rollins 3-0 in the first game of its series on Thursday, but saw the Tars come back for an extra inning win in game one on Friday. The back-and-forth affair saw the teams combine for only 10 hits, and commit six errors that led to six unearned runs. The Mocs tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a 2-out throwing error before the Tars used a double by Monica Meadows and a single by Meredith Foster in the top of the ninth to pull out a 4-3 win.
Both pitchers could have easily taken shutouts into the ninth inning, but defensive miscues allowed each team to score three unearned runs in regulation. Ultimately, Clark gave up only one earned run among the four runs she allowed, and also gave up just five hits. She struck out 12 and had now walks, less than 24 hours after a 2-hit shutout of the Tars in which she also had 12 strikeouts and zero walks.
Clark retired the first 11 Rollins hitters on Friday before Meadows doubled inside the third base bag in the top of fourth and then scored on an error to tie the score at one. Another error helped Rollins score two runs in the sixth, with an RBI double by Krista Rodden putting the Tars ahead 3-2, despite picking up just three hits in the first seven innings.
Rollins pitcher Amye McIntyre was equally unfortunate. Like Clark, she gave up only five hits in the game, and none of the three runs against her were earned. She added nine strikeouts, walked four and hit one before she eventually won the game by not allowing a base runner in extra innings. The win improved her record to 13-4.
Florida Southern scored single runs in the first and fourth innings against her without a hit in either one. In the bottom of the first, Steph Graziani was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on the play when the throw was deflected into left centerfield. After the Tars tied the game at one in the top of fourth, the Mocs re-claimed when the Rollins started the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back two-base errors.
After falling behind 3-2 in the sixth, the Mocs tied the score in the bottom of the seventh, again on a Rollins error. The inning started with a leadoff single by Karlyn Scott, who was bunted into scoring position by Graziani. McIntyre got the second out of the inning before the Tars chose to intentionally walk Brittany Martin. The strategy almost worked when Clark hit a bouncer back to McIntyre, but the Rollins pitcher bounced a throw to first, and Scott was able to score the tying run from second.
In game two, the Moccasins broke a 1-1 tie with five runs in the bottom of the second inning, highlighted by two Rollins errors and a 2-run single by Clark, who was also the winning pitcher after going the distance in game one. The Mocs ended up scoring in three different innings, with Randi Grimes a part of all three. Grimes had two of Florida Southern’s eight hits in the game, with Christie Bailey also picking up two.
Grimes put Florida Southern ahead 1-0 with an RBI double in the bottom of the first, but Rodden tied the game for Rollins with a solo home run in the top of the second.
In the bottom of the second, the Moccasin batted around against Hope Bitzer, an inning that started with a triple by Sam Gale. Khaliah Brown put down a bunt that got her home, and when the ball was thrown wide of the bag at first, Brown reached safely to give the Mocs another base runner. They took advantage of it too when Graziani reached on a bunt single, with the throw again going wide to allow Brown to score and Graziani to reach third.
Grimes followed with a walk, and Martin, who had walked in three straight plate appearances, finally got a pitch to hit and delivered an RBI single that made the score 4-1. Martin took second on the throw to third, and a single by Clark knocked in two more to put the Mocs ahead 6-1.
The Mocs finished their scoring after Grimes led off the bottom of the fourth with a base hit and was replaced by pinch-runner Cassie Haynes. When Clark put down a bunt two batters later, the Tars committed their third throwing error of the game, with the ball ending up all the way in the right field corner. Both Haynes and Clark easily scored.
Clark finished the game in the circle to earn her 26th win of the season against nine losses. She again allowed just five hits and one earned run. She also struck out five and issued no walks while keeping her earned run average for the season at 0.88.
Florida Southern will now have to wait until Monday morning to learn its fate for postseason play. The selection show will be carried live on the NCAA website at 10:00 a.m.
