Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Senior Allasyn Lieneck has become so well known for her defense in centerfield, Friday’s game at Lynn was a reminder that she can hit too â€" and hit she did. Lieneck went 3-for-3 and helped spark all three innings in which Florida Southern scored, while Chelsea Oglevie allowed just four hits and narrowly missed a shutout as the Moccasins defeated the Knights 5-1 in the first of their 3-game series.
Lieneck struck the first big blow for Florida Southern in the top of the second inning. The Moccasins had already gotten a 2-out double from junior Kim Booker (Bartow, Fla.) and an error by Lynn extended the inning for Lieneck. The senior from Oldsmar, Florida ripped a double down the right field line that brought Booker in for the first run of the game.
The Moccasins scored two more runs in the top of the fifth, and Lieneck was in the middle of that inning too. It started with a leadoff single by senior Heather Brinkmeier (Port St. Joe, Fla.) and Lieneck followed with a base hit up the middle. Junior Kylee Stearns (Lakeland, Fla.) moved them up with a sacrifice bunt and they came home on back-to-back RBI singles by sophomore Jordan Alexander (Valrico, Fla.) and senior Christie Bailey (Jacksonville, Fla.).
Lieneck wasn’t finished either. In the top of the seventh she led off with another single, and following an error and a fielder’s choice that loaded the bases, junior Priscilla Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.) blooped a single into short left that drove in two more runs for a 5-0 Florida Southern lead. That hit also extended Gonzalez’s hitting streak to 16 games.
For Lieneck, it was her first 3-hit game since having two as a freshman at Nichols College. She transferred to Florida Southern the following season after earning all-conference honors at Nichols.
Oglevie went the distance in the circle for the Moccasins, with the only run against her coming on a solo home run by Kaci Vassallo with two out in the bottom of the seventh. She struck out two and walked one in improving her record to 4-4. The senior from Tampa has now given up just seven earned runs in her last six starts.
Oglevie faced the minimum of nine batters through the first three innings, even though Crystal Cano led off the bottom of the third with a single. The Knights tried to bunt her into scoring position, but Leanne Wright popped up to Alexander at third, and Jasmine Campos hit a line drive back to Oglevie who threw to first to double off Cano.
A walk by Cano and a single by Wright in the fifth inning gave the Knights two more base runners, but Lieneck helped protect the Mocs’ 3-0 lead by tracking down a fly ball in left center. She also made two other critical catches for the Moccasins, robbing Sara Vazquez of a hit in the first inning with a sliding basket catch in short left center, and going to the fence in deep center to haul one in off the bat of Cherise McEnery in the second.
She wasn’t the only one with an impressive effort on defense either. Oglevie’s double play in the third inning came on a line drive, and the Moccasin pitcher also caught a low liner hit more softly in the by Danielle McNeill in the sixth inning.
Florida Southern and Lynn will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
