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Box Score 2 WINTER PARK – Kim Booker and Taylor Bowen nearly brought Florida Southern back from a big deficit in game one with some late-inning heroics, and Booker and Maggie Roberts supplied some early power in game two of their Saturday doubleheader at Rollins. The Tars, however, held on for a 6-4 win in the opener and came from behind for a 3-2 win in the nightcap.
Despite losing the first game, Florida Southern still out-hit Rollins 9-6 and had at least one hit in all but the fourth inning. Senior third baseman Gianni Artidiello (Miami, Fla.) led the Moccasin offense with three hits, while sophomore Hannah Loyer (Bradenton), who was also their starting pitcher, and freshman Ashlyn Worcester (Bloomingdale, Ill.) each had two. However, the Mocs could score in only the third and seventh. Artidiello was a part of both those innings, as was junior Jordan Alexander (Valrico, Fla.), who had an RBI single in the third for their first run, and walked in the seventh.
Rollins (35-11, 15-9 Sunshine State Conference) did all of its game one scoring in the first three innings, with Chelsea Reed plating both first-inning runs with a deflected single that trickled through the left side of the infield, and later starting a 3-run third with a leadoff double. Her single in the first inning came with the bases loaded and was a bouncing ground ball that Loyer made a leaping attempt to grab, only to deflect it past senior shortstop Jessica Lanci (Orlando, Fla.) where it died in short left field.
After an RBI double by Brittany Johnson gave the Tars a 3-0 lead after two innings, Reed lined a pitch into the gap in left center to start the third and eventually scored on a passed ball. The Tars would add two more runs on a bases-loaded walk and a hit batter against Johnson with the bases still full.
From there, Bowen (Newberry, Fla.) kept Rollins off the board by giving up only one hit in 4.0 innings of work against the league's #1 offense. The junior relief pitcher did not allow a run, struck out two and walked one while retiring 10 of the final 11 batters she faced.
The pitching of Bowen gave Florida Southern (19-29, 5-16) a chance to come back, and the Moccasins nearly rallied in the top of the seventh, which started with a leadoff single by Worcester. Senior Priscilla Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.) then hit the first pitch in her at-bat on a line, but it carried out to leftfielder Courtney Durbin for an out. Artidiello followed with her third hit of the game and after a ground out moved the runners up a base, Alexander walked to load them for Booker (Bartow, Fla.). The Moccasin catcher lined a pitch into the left centerfield gap for a 3-run double, and the Mocs were within 6-4.
Lanci nearly got them another run with a looping fly ball that was on its way to short left center, but Rollins shortstop Jule Kranz went back on it to make a running catch for the final out. That made a winner of Niki Fogle, who went the distance for the Tars while giving up four runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
Fogle, who started all but one SSC game this season for the Tars, was back in the circle in game two, and the Mocs got to her early this time with solo home runs by Booker and junior Maggie Roberts (Lakeland, Fla.) in the top of the second inning.
Those home runs, the first of the season for each player, erased a 1-0 lead by Rollins. The Tars had scored in the top of the first when leadoff batter Hailee Keisling had doubled and come home on a 2-out single by Jule Kranz.
Keisling later helped the Tars re-claim the lead in the bottom of the fifth by legging out an infield single with two out in the inning. After Johnson was hit by a pitch for the second time in the doubleheader, Durbin doubled into left center, bringing in both runs for a 3-2 Rollins lead.
Fogle set down the Mocs 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth but gave up a base runner in the seventh on a 1-out error. The Mocs were unable to advance her though as the Tars held on for the win. It was the 28th win of the season for Fogle against 11 defeats, keeping her second in the nation in individual wins. She gave up five hits in game two Saturday, struck out three and walked one.
Booker and senior Kylee Stearns (Lakeland, Fla.) each had two of the five hits for Florida Southern.
Sophomore Brandi Jones (Snellville, Ga.) threw an outstanding game of her own for Florida Southern, giving up just six hits with five strikeouts and one walk. She fell to 13-13 with the loss.
The Moccasins will wrap up the 2015 season next weekend when they host Saint Leo in a single game Friday night at 7 p.m., and a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.
