Box Score
CLEARWATER â€" While Florida Southern was enduring a string of tough losses to start the season, head coach Chris Bellotto knew the Moccasins were just one or two hits away from being a very good team. It turns out that two hits were really all it took to get that first win. Well, that, and a dominating performance by Chelsea Oglevie. The Mocs used that combination to defeat Georgia College 6-0 in their final game of the Eckerd College Invitational on Sunday.
The Moccasins, who had lost five 1-run games while starting 0-8, including four in the final inning, put this one away by taking advantage of six GCSU errors. Given the opportunity to score, the Mocs kept cashing in by simply putting the ball in play, and doing the little things that have helped them win so many other games in the past. Two of their runs came home on ground balls to the right side of the infield, and they also helped their cause with three steals, aggressive base running, and hustling to first even on seemingly routine plays. It was the first time in eight years the Moccasins won a game with as few as two hits, though they've done it several times since 2005 with three.
In the pitcher’s circle, Oglevie tossed a 3-hit shutout, and not once did the Cougars (7-3) get a runner to second. The junior from Tampa gave up 2-out singles in the first and second innings before the final hit came in the sixth. Oglevie struck out four, walked no one, and retired 15 of the last 16 GCSU hitters. She got defensive assistance from leftfielder Khaliah Brown (Groveport, OH) in the sixth inning with a diving catch in short left after Frankie Walls had singled for the Cougars with one out.
The Moccasins scored four runs in the first four innings, and amazingly did so with just one hit. It was an RBI single by junior shortstop Christie Bailey (Jacksonville, FL) in the top of the second that gave them a 1-0 lead, and the Cougars helped them out with four errors, two hit batters, two wild pitches and a passed ball.
Bailey’s run-scoring single in the second came after Heather Brinkmeier (Port St. Joe, FL) had reached on an error to start the inning and moved to second on a passed ball. The Mocs added another run in the third inning after Jordan Alexander (Valrico, FL) was safe on a dropped throw at first base, moved to third on another error and scored on a ground out by Dayna Hunn (Morriston, FL).
After scoring single runs in the second and third, Florida Southern scored two in the top of the fourth, and for the second inning in a row, the Moccasins didn’t need a hit. This time, GCSU pitcher Dani Gallucci hit Allasyn Lieneck (Oldsmar, FL) leading off the inning, and Lieneck promptly stole second. When Bailey reached on the Cougars’ fourth error of the game, the Mocs had runners at first and third with none out. A wild pitch by Gallucci brought Lieneck in to score, and Bailey made it 4-0 when she crossed the plate on a ground out by Brown.
It was more of the same in the sixth inning when Bailey drew a 1-out walk, took second on a wild pitch, third on a throwing error by the Georgia College catcher, and came home on the Cougars’ second error of the inning. That gave the Mocs a 5-0 lead, still with only one hit.
They picked up their second hit in the top of the seventh, and this one went for extra bases. It came off the bat of Leah Pemberton (Valrico, FL) who tripled to right center and drove in Brinkmeier, who had walked on front of her.
Gallucci ended up taking the loss for Georgia College while giving up only one earned run (four total) on one hit in 3.1 innings. Abi LeRoy pitched the final 3.2 innings and also gave up just one earned run on one hit.
Florida Southern will be off for a week before playing its 2013 home opener on Tuesday, February 19, against 13th-ranked Flagler College. The doubleheader begins at 5:00 p.m.
