Box Score CLEARWATER – Brilliant relief pitching by sophomore Hannah Loyer gave Florida Southern the chance to pull off another come-from-behind win Saturday, but Young Harris third baseman Sarah Magill and pitcher Darby Stanford gave their team enough to hold on for the win. Loyer tossed 3.2 scoreless innings for the Moccasins, while Magill drove in three runs to give the Mountain Lions a 4-2 victory at the Eckerd College Spring Invitational.
Young Harris (4-2) jumped out to a 3-0 lead with three runs in the top of the second inning with Magill doing most of the damage. The Mountain Lions had loaded the bases in front of their #2 hitter with a double by Sarah-Beth Marquis, a single by Jeanie Perrucci and a hit batter. Magill came up with two out and singled into right for the first two runs of the game and the Mountain Lions would tack on another run on an error.
Magill picked up another RBI in the top of the fourth with a double, giving Young Harris a 4-0 lead and bringing Loyer (Bradenton, Fla.) into the game in relief of junior starter Taylor Bowen (Newberry, Fla.). Loyer went the rest of the way, giving up only a pair of infield singles and one walk over the final 3.2 innings. She added four strikeouts and got a big play in center from freshman Ashlyn Worcester (Bloomingdale, Ill.), who went all the way to the fence to take an extra-base hit away from Chandler Stooksbury in the sixth.
The Moccasins (3-1) scored twice off Stanford, and out-hit the Mountain Lions 8-7, but also left 10 runners on base. Senior Kylee Stearns (Lakeland, Fla.) had two of those hits, with one in each of the innings in which Florida Southern scored.
Stearns drove in their first run in the bottom of the fourth after a one-out single by junior Leah Pemberton (Valrico, Fla.) and an error that kept the inning alive.
Two innings later, the Mocs had a chance to score even more runs when senior Priscilla Gonzalez singled to lead off the sixth and the Mountain Lions made another error to put runners at first and third with one out. Worcester then hit a ball up the middle that was knocked down by Standford but went for an infield single that plated Gonzalez with the Mocs' second run of the game. Another infield hit by Stearns loaded the bases, but Standford prevented any more scoring with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
The win improved Standford's record to 3-0 while she allowed one earned run on eight hits, with nine strikeouts and one walk. Meanwhile, Bowen fell to 1-1 for Florida Southern.
The Moccasins will wrap up the Eckerd College Spring Invitational on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. against Lindenwood (MO).
