Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 LAKELAND – After playing a team record 12 consecutive road games and travelling over 2,100 miles over the last two weeks, Florida Southern was glad to be home Wednesday night and celebrated by ending its recent losing streak with a 3-2 win over 11th-ranked and defending East Region champion Long Island Post. The Moccasins got a go-ahead RBI single from Gianni Artidiello and a complete game from Brandi Jones in the win, but saw the Pioneers come from behind for three runs in the top of the seventh to take game two, 6-5.
The Moccasins (12-15) did all of their scoring in game one in the bottom of the second inning after the Pioneers (1-3) had taken a 1-0 lead in the top half of the inning on an RBI double by Kayla McCoy. In fact, half of Florida Southern's eight hits came in the second, two of them infield singles by Jessica Lanci and Artidiello that proved to be key plays.
After Lanci reached to start the bottom of the second inning, the LIU Post tried to get a force out on the Moccasin shortstop at off a ground ball hit by Ashlyn Worcester. The throw to second base was late though and the Mocs had two on with none out. After a wild pitch moved both runners along, a fly ball to right by Kim Booker was deep enough to get Lanci home with the tying run. Two batters later, Artidiello hit a ground ball that third baseman Maria Palmeri tried to stop with a diving effort to her left, but the ball was just out of reach, going off the end of her glove and rolling between third and short. That allowed Worcester to score the go-ahead run, and a single by Leah Pemberton later drove in Artidiello from second.
Pemberton nearly drove in another run later in the game after the Mocs loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth on singles by Worcester and Booker, and a hit-by-pitch against Artidiello. McCoy made her presence felt on defense for LIU Post though when the first baseman made a diving stop of a hard-hit grounder right down the line. Her momentum carried her directly on top of the bag for the final out of the inning and saved at least two runs.
The Pioneers had already cut into the lead at that point in the top of the sixth when Catherine Havens tripled with one out and came home when the throw to third ended up bouncing into the Florida Southern dugout. Immediately after that, the field was cleared for a 41-minute lightning delay, and the Pioneers did not threaten again.
Jones held them to five hits in the game to improve to 8-7 on the season. Only one of the two runs against her was earned, and she added six strikeouts and one walk. The second inning was the only time the Pioneers had more than one base runner.
Megan Salcido fell to 0-2 with the loss and lasted only two innings while giving up three runs on four hits with two walks and no strikeouts. Isabella Corrao, who would later get the save in game two, pitched four shutout innings for the Pioneers in game one, giving up four hits, no walks, and three strikeouts. Booker and Jordan Alexander each had two of Florida Southern's eight hits, but no one from LIU Post had more than one.
In the nightcap, Florida Southern charged to a 3-0 lead with one in the first and two in the second, with Artidiello driving in another run and picking up two of the Moccasins' seven hits in the game. However, the Pioneers came back to tie the game with a 3-run double by Palmeri in the top of the fifth and eventually won it after a 2-run homer by Melissa Peet gave them the lead in the top of the seventh.
The Mocs turned a 2-out walk by Pemberton in the bottom of the first into a 1-0 lead when Priscilla Gonzalez launched a double to left center that hit the fence on the fly. They turned another 2-out walk by Booker in the second inning into their second run when LIU Post pitcher Ashley Martin uncorked a wild pitch following the first of two singles by Kylee Stearns. Another infield hit by Artidiello brought in Stearns and the Mocs were up 3-0.
FSC pitcher Hannah Loyer kept the Pioneers off the scoreboard for the first four innings, getting two sharp plays from Lanci at short along the way, but three walks in the top of the fifth led to her exit when Palmeri cleared the bases with a double. That left the game tied 3-3.
The Mocs came right back in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of unearned runs following a single by Artidiello and a double by Pemberton. Artidiello scored on a 2-out error, and Pemberton scampered home on a run-down play with pinch-runner Sierra Lacey drawing the throw at second.
The Mocs went to the seventh still leading 5-3, but the Pioneers erased it with three extra-base hits in the inning. Back-to-back doubles to start the inning by Havens and Aly Dzierzynski produced the first run, and Peet gave LIU Post its final two with a shot over the fence in left.
In the bottom of the inning the Moccasins got a single from Alexander and Maggie Roberts was hit by a pitch before Corrao closed it out and gave LIU Post its first win in four games this season. The Pioneers hadn't played before being swept by Tampa in a doubleheader Tuesday afternoon.
Martin earned the win for LIU Post in her first start of the year and went the first six innings, allowing five runs (only two earned) on six hits. She struck out three and walked three. Taylor Bowen fell to 2-4 for Florida Southern after coming on for Loyer in the fifth inning.
The Pioneers matched the Moccasins with seven hits in the game, three by Dzierzynski, while Artidiello and Stearns had two for Florida Southern.
Florida Southern returns to Sunshine State Conference play on Friday with a single game against Lynn University at 7 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
