Box Score LAKELAND – Multi-hit games by freshman Ashlyn Worcester and senior Kylee Stearns sparked a late rally for Florida Southern Friday night against Lynn, but the Knights used a 3-run homer by Cherise McEnery in the third inning to pull out a 4-2 win over the Moccasins. It was the first of a 3-game Sunshine State Conference series between the two teams.
The Knights (12-11, 2-2) did all of their scoring in the top of the third when they also had three of their five hits. The Moccasins (12-16, 0-7) out-hit them 8-5, and scored in two innings, but the big bat of McEnery, one of the league's top power threats over the last two seasons, decided the game.
Leadoff batter Sara Vazquez started the third inning with a triple down the line in left, and after Moccasin sophomore pitcher Brandi Jones (Snellville, Ga.) got a ground out to third, Francais Olexa drew a base on balls. Kaci Vassallo's single into left drove in Vazquez with the first run of the game and McEnery followed that by belting a 3-2 pitch over the fence in right for her sixth home run of the season.
The Knights had just one more hit, and in fact just one more base runner the rest of the night. Stearns (Lakeland, Fla.) made a leaping catch in left to take extra bases away from Manya Lopez for the second out of the third inning, helping Jones set down eight in a row before McEnery singled leading off the sixth. Jones then got three straight outs after that before junior Taylor Bowen (Newberry, Fla.) pitched a 1-2-3 seventh.
The Mocs got on the scoreboard with single runs in the fifth and seventh innings, sparked each time by Worcester. The freshman from Bloomingdale, Illinois doubled and scored on an error after an infield hit by Stearns in the fifth. Two innings later, Worcester started the seventh with a single up the middle, and though she was later erased on a force play at third, Stearns ended up scoring after her second hit of the game when junior Jordan Alexander (Valrico, Fla.) singled with two out. That got the Mocs within 4-2 with two runners still on base and brought junior Leah Pemberton (Valrico, Fla.).
Pemberton already had two hits in the game and an out she made in the fifth inning had come on a foul fly ball to very deep left. She hit the ball hard again but right at Jasmine Campos who stepped on the bag for third to record the final out of the game.
That made a winner of Missy Montgomery, who gave up eight hits but no walks while striking out two. Montgomery is now 7-3 on the season.
Jones dropped to 8-8, though she gave up only five hits in 6.0 innings. She added three strikeouts and two walks.
Florida Southern and Lynn will conclude their series with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
