Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Priscilla Gonzalez continued her torrid start with two more hits and two more RBI, Jessica Lanci continued getting on base too, and Chelsea Oglevie continued to pitch the way it takes to win the type of game the Moccasins played Saturday night. With the game on the line though, it was Jordan Alexander and Kylee Stearns who came through to help Florida Southern score two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 5-4 victory over 9th-ranked Barry.
The game was the Sunshine State Conference opener for both teams, and it featured enough twists and turns to come almost full circle at the end: with Florida Southern (5-4, 1-0) down by a run in the bottom of the seventh with the top of the lineup coming to bat. Getting to that point was just as exciting as the ending eventually was. The Mocs scored once in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead, and Barry (10-4, 0-1) scored once in the second and once in the third to go up 2-1. The Mocs then re-claimed the lead with two in the fourth, and Barry went back on top with two in the fifth. The sixth inning was the only frame where neither team scored before the Mocs scored two unearned runs in the seventh for their first win over a top-10 team since 2009.
Trailing 4-3, the Moccasins started their final at-bat with an infield single by Alexander, who was then forced at second for the first out of the inning. Stearns then delivered a single to right that was misplayed for an error, putting Moccasin runners at second and third. Allasyn Lieneck got one of them in with a ground ball to short, even though Ashley Fernandez’s throw came to the plate. The ball sailed wide, however, again allowing the Moccasins to take an extra base.
Barry pitcher Taylor Sabol got the second out of the inning when Christie Bailey hit a looping line drive up the middle that was caught by second baseman Cheyanne Head, keeping the runners at second and third. That brought Lanci to the plate and after working the count full, the junior shortstop hit a ball down the line that got by third baseman Kristina Pazienza and allowed Stearns to score the winning run.
Lanci was in the middle of the action all night for the Moccasins. She walked her first three times up, had a single in the sixth inning, stole one base and scored one run. She also made a dazzling catch at short in the top of the second, taking a hit away from Camille Czarnecki, a play that likely saved at least one run. She almost made another spectacular catch in the fifth inning when she slid into the bullpen area, crashing into the fence for a foul pop-up.
It was Lanci and Gonzalez who produced the first run of the game when Lanci drew a 2-out walk in the first inning and Gonzalez doubled her in. Barry scored the tying run with back-to-back doubles by Britney Pugh and Fernandez in the top of the second, and went ahead 2-1 in the third inning when Megan Copeland singled, stole second and came home on a base hit by Julie Brito.
In the fourth, the Moccasins re-claimed the lead when Heather Brinkmeier singled and Lieneck was hit by a pitch to put a pair of runners on base. Bailey drove in Brinkmeier with a single, and following another walk by Lanci, Gonzalez put the Mocs ahead 3-2 with another RBI single.
Back came Barry in the top of the fifth, taking advantage of a 2-out error by the Moccasins that put Copeland at second. Hunter Mars beat out an infield single, and both she and Copeland scored on another error, making the score 4-3 Barry.
After that, the Buccaneers had just one more base runner the rest of the night off Oglevie, who got the final out of the fifth, had a 1-2-3 sixth, and gave up only a single to Copeland in the seventh. Mars almost had another hit for the Bucs, but her line drive up the middle was somehow caught by Oglevie.
Oglevie gave up seven hits in the game, with Copeland and Mars picking up two apiece, but only two earned runs. She struck out four and walked one to even her record at 2-2. Lanci’s catch at shortstop in the second inning helped her out, and Lieneck’s throw to the plate in the first inning that cut down Copeland trying to score on a fly ball was another big play.
The Moccasins had seven hits off Pugh in 5.1 innings, and two more off Sabol in her 1.1 innings of work. Sabol took the loss, falling to 2-3, though she did not allow an earned run.
The two teams will meet again Sunday in a doubleheader that begins at 1 p.m.
