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Box Score 2 VIERA, Fla. – Sunday marked the final day of the 2020 Florida Tech Invitational, Florida Southern College softball took on No. 4 West Florida in the first game and closed out the tournament with a midday game against Molloy. The Moccasins (5-2) swept the competition on Sunday defeating No. 4 West Florida (6-3), 1-0, and closing the day with a run-rule 8-0 victory over Molloy (0-5).
Tiana Hernandez started in the circle for the Mocs limiting the Argos to just a single base runner in the first two innings she pitched. Kristin Beacham continued to dominate as she picked up both wins on the day.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 1, NO. 4 WEST FLORDIA 0
- The Mocs went down in order in the top of the first to open the game. With one out, Gracie Gilbert reached on an error and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Hernandez would walk the next batter and then work her way out of the inning by forcing a pop-up and ground out to end the Argos threat.
- The offense would go down 1-2-3 in the top of the second inning. Hernandez would follow that with her own 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the second inning. Maddi Conner reached on an error by the second baseman to open the top of the third and would move to second on a wild pitch. The Mocs would strand Conner at second with three straight groundouts to the middle infield.
- Kristen Beacham entered the game in the bottom of the third and walked the first batter she faced. She was able to force the next batter to groundout into a double play and then strike out the final batter for the third out. After a 1-2-3 top half of the inning, West Florida's bats came alive. Beacham gave up a single to open the half-inning. She would put a pitch on the inside that would barely hit the batter and the umpire would award her first base. After a single to left field, the Argos would load the bases with no outs. Beacham was able to get three straight outs to get out of the jam as she forced an out at home and got a pop out to second and line out to shortstop. The game would remain scoreless as the Argos squandered a no-outs bases-loaded situation.
- Kelsey Peck got a one-out infield single and advanced to third on a base hit to right-center by Conner. Alex Mace would put both runners in scoring position as she grounded out to third. Nothing would come of the threat as Jadin Dewith would groundout to end the top of the fifth.
- Beacham pitched an impressive 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth inning to keep the game scoreless. Both teams would go down quietly in the sixth inning. Kensie Green led off the final inning with a single to left field, Samantha Prosser would pinch run for the Mocs catcher. Prosser would make her way around the bases 60 feet at a time as she advanced to second on a groundout and then tagged up on a fly ball to right field. With two outs, Conner came up to bat and would reach on a fielding error by the shortstop and down the line came Prosser to score the eventual winning run for the Mocs. In a similar fashion, as she did in the third and fourth innings, Beacham sent the Argos back to the dugout one-by-one to pick up her second win of the season.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 8, MOLLOY 0 – 5 INNINGS
- The Mocs opened the game with a throwing error but quickly settled in as Beacham would get three straight outs to strand the runner. Jessica Bryson took a 2-2 count deep over the right-field wall to hit the Mocs first home run of the season and give them an early 1-0 lead that would be the eventual game-winning run.
- Beacham continued to dominate the opposition as she recorded her fourth 1-2-3 inning of the day in the top of the second. With two outs and two on in the bottom of the second inning, Mace would send a single up the middle past the diving second baseman into centerfield to score Peck from third, 2-0 Mocs. The Florida Southern starter would work around a one-out single in the third to keep Molloy off the board.
- Florida Southern started off the bottom of the fourth inning with a pair of hits by Peck and Conner. FSC would score the first of six runs in the inning off a throwing error by the pitcher. At this point, it all fell apart for Molloy as the Mocs picked up on the fact Molloy was having trouble fielding the bunt. Mace squared around to bunt and got home the second run of the inning as Conner scored from third. Bryson followed suit as she sent a bunt to the pitcher who promptly threw the ball straight into the ground and past the first baseman to allow Beka Schulte to score from second. With Mace on third, Bryson stole second and on a throwing error by the catcher Mace would score, for a 6-0 Moccasin lead. Bryson would come around to score on another error by the Molloy pitcher, who had just entered the game this half-inning. Ashley Adkinson would pinch hit for Celia Higgins and ground into a double play for the first two outs of the inning. Green would walk and she would score on a double by Meghan Sexton.
- After waiting all that time to get back out on the field, Beacham gave up a double down the left-field line to lead off the top of the fifth. She would quickly erase the base runner as her defense backed her up and completed the double play. The game would end as she got the final batter to fly out to left field and the Mocs would be victorious as the run-rule came into effect.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Of the ten teams participating in the Florida Tech Invitational, the Florida Southern pitching staff was one of only four teams to post zeros in the first inning of every game.
- Florida Southern was one of three teams to go 4-1 on the weekend, joining them was No. 4 West Florida and Angelo State.
- The Moccasins picked up their first run-rule victory since March 5, 2018, when they posted run-rule victories in both games of a doubleheader hosting Chestnut Hill.
- Sitting with seven games played, the Moccasins pitching staff holds a staff ERA of 0.76 good for second in the conference behind Rollins who holds a 0.40 with eight games played.
UP NEXT
• The Moccasins will open up Sunshine State Conference play at Florida Tech (Feb. 14-15). They will return to Chris Bellotto Field for a doubleheader against Western Ontario (Feb. 21).
