AUBURNDALE â€" Even coming from different parts of the country, Florida Southern and Wayne State (MI) have a lot of history between them as two of the nation’s best Division II softball programs, and head coaches Chris Bellotto and Gary Bryce, have a lot of wins too in their matching 33-year careers. They’ve never seen a game like the one they had Saturday. Florida Southern’s only base runner of the game scored in the first inning, and freshman Brandi Jones pitched her first shutout to give the Moccasins a 1-0 win over the 8th-ranked Warriors.

Bellotto and Bryce have combined for over 2,300 wins, rank 1-2 among active Division II coaches, and are third and fifth respectively on the all-time list. They’ve met four times in the NCAA playoffs, and Saturday morning’s game was the 21st time they’ve gone head-to-head overall. It felt more like one of those playoff games with the Mocs getting the win despite being no-hit by redshirt freshman Lyndsay Butler, who came into the game with a 0.62 ERA and averaging nearly 11 strikeouts per game. She fanned 10 Moccasins and the only base runner against her came on an error, but she fell to 9-3 on the season.

Jones may not have pitched a no-hitter for Florida Southern (16-7), but her shutout was equally impressive. The freshman from Snellville, Georgia, who is also 9-3, earned her sixth straight win by scattering six hits, walking no one and striking out five. Three of the hits against her were infield singles, including two by Logan White. Jones also had to pitch around two hits in the first inning, with Wayne State batting in the top of the first.

The Warriors (19-4) started the game with back-to-back singles by Jade McGarr and White, and a sacrifice bunt by Butler moved them up to second and third. Jones then got her first strikeout against Emily Bryce, but the ball ended up at the backstop, allowing Bryce to reach first. McGarr tried to score from third, but junior catcher Kim Booker (Bartow, Fla.) quickly recovered the ball and got it to Jones covering the plate. Her tag on the sliding McGarr was the second out of the inning and allowed the Mocs to dodge a bullet.

In the bottom of the first, sophomore Jordan Alexander (Valrico, Fla.), Florida Southern’s leadoff batter, reached second on a throwing error. Little did the Mocs know it would be their only base runner of the game, but they made it count. Two batters later, a ground out by junior Jessica Lanci (Orlando, Fla.) moved Alexander over to third, and when Butler uncorked a wild pitch, Alexander was able to score. She slid in just under a tag by Butler who covering the plate as Jones did for Florida Southern in the top half of the inning.

After that, Butler retired 18 in a row to end the game, but Jones kept the Warriors off the scoreboard too. Infield singles in the second and sixth inning never advanced beyond first base, and when Emily Cara singled into short right center in the fourth, Booker threw her out attempting to steal. Wayne State got another single from Julie Ingratta to start the seventh inning and bunted her into scoring position, but a base-running mistake ended the game for the Warriors.

The game-ending double play was turned by sophomore second baseman Leah Pemberton (Valrico, Fla.), who came in to field a low looping pop-up by Shelby Spano. Ingratta had already broken for third on contact and Pemberton threw back to Lanci at second to easily double her off.

The win over Wayne State was Florida Southern’s second this year over a team ranked in the NFCA top-10. The Mocs defeated 9th-ranked Barry 5-4 on March 1. It also marked the first time the Mocs have ever won a game without picking up a hit, though they once lost a no-hitter pitched by Megan Brown against Valdosta State in 2007.

Florida Southern’s second game of the day was scheduled for 11 a.m. against Ohio Dominican, but with the Panthers’ game against Caldwell running long, the start of game two has been delayed.