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WINTER HAVEN â€" Chalk up another 3-hit game for junior catcher Kim Booker, another dominating performance by freshman pitcher Brandi Jones, and a strong return for Jessica Lanci. Booker and Jones were the stars of a 4-1 win over Southwest Minnesota State in Florida Southern’s first game Friday, and Lanci had three hits, two walks and three RBI altogether as the Moccasins also defeated Concordia-St. Paul, 10-5.
Booker went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI against Southwest Minnesota State (3-13), as the Moccasins (15-7) scored once in the third, once in the fourth and twice in the fifth. It was Booker’s third 3-hit game in the last two weeks to go along with a pair of 2-hit games. The Mocs might have done even more scoring, but SMSU turned three double plays, two of them on hard-hit line drives by Lanci and Priscilla Gonzalez. Those plays ended the first and third innings, and a strikeout/caught stealing double play ended the sixth.
The Mustangs went three-up, three-down against Jones in each of the first three innings before their #2 hitter, Elissa Reinsma beat out a bunt single with one out in the fourth. Their next base runner didn’t come until the sixth when Jones walked Bailie Sheahan to start the inning. Sheahan eventually scored after an error moved her to third, with Reinsma driving her in with a base through the right side of the infield.
Two of Southwest Minnesota’s three hits off Jones came from Reinsma, their sophomore centerfielder. The other came from Kailey Hanson in the top of the seventh. Jones also issued only one walk and struck out seven in winning her fifth consecutive start to improve to 8-3. In four of those, the freshman from Snellville, Georgia has not allowed an earned run, which included Friday’s start against Southwest Minnesota.
Florida Southern had eight hits and four walks off Alex O’Connor (2-7), and though Booker had three of those hits, the Moccasins’ first run came after their #9 hitter, Kylee Stearns, walked to start the bottom of the third. Jordan Alexander moved her into scoring position with a bunt, and after Christie Bailey walked, Lanci singled into right center to drive in Stearns.
Booker gave the Mocs a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single after Heather Brinkmeier had doubled leading off the inning. In the bottom of the fifth, a leadoff walk by Bailey and a double by Gonzalez produced one run, and Booker gave them another when her single plated Gonzalez.
In their second game of the day, the Moccasins fell behind 3-0 when Concordia-St. Paul scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Mocs would come back though with five in the third and five in the sixth as they stretched their winning streak to 10 games. Lanci, who had missed 11 straight games due to injury before returning to the field on Friday, reached base four times with two hits and two walks, and both of those walks came with the bases loaded.
The Moccasins also got three hits from Alexander, two hits and two RBI from Leah Pemberton, and a pair of hits from both Brinkmeier and Stearns. Lanci, Pemberton and Gonzalez all had one RBI in each of the two innings where Florida Southern did all of its scoring, while Alexander, Lanci, Stearns and Allasyn Lieneck all scored one run in each inning.
Chelsea Oglevie fought through all seven innings for the complete game win, raising her record to 7-4. In fairness to Oglevie, many of the 10 hits against her were infield singles or balls that barely reached the outfield. She added three strikeouts and two walks to her pitching line.
The Golden Bears started the game by putting their first five batters on base with four hits and a walk. Jamie Fleischhacker had the big hit for the Golden Bears with a bouncing ball that made it into left field between short and third for a 2-run single.
The Moccasins climbed out of that 3-0 hole quickly by putting their first six batters on base to start the third inning. Lieneck was hit by a pitch, Stearns reached on a bunt that rolled all the way down the chalk and hit the third base bag, and Alexander singled into left to load the bases for Pemberton, who drove in the first run with an infield single that deflected off the glove of pitcher Linzy Heim. Lanci then forced in a run with a walk, and a slow roller to short hit by Gonzalez went for another infield single that tied the game at three. When Dayna Hunn made the first out of the inning, it was still a fly ball deep enough to plate Pemberton with the go-ahead run and two batters later, a ground-rule double by Brinkmeier that nearly left the park made it 5-3.
Three innings later it was Brinkmeier who led off the sixth with a single that started the Mocs rolling again, and two bunt singles by Lieneck and Stearns loaded the bases again with none out. Singles by Alexander and Pemberton got two runs in, walks by Lanci and Gonzalez got two more in, and Booker ripped a pitch down to third that Fleischhacker got a glove on but couldn’t stop, driving in the Mocs’ final run.
Florida Southern will play two more games on Saturday as part of the Rebel Spring Games, taking on 8th-ranked Wayne State (MI) at 9 a.m., and Ohio Dominican at 11 a.m. Both games will be played at the Auburndale Sports Complex.
