LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Southern College softball team earned a Sunshine State Conference split over visiting Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday afternoon. The Mocs won the series 2-1 winning the opener Friday night 4-2 and then splitting the doubleheader with a score of 4-2 in the first game and 5-7 in the series finale.
Junior
Jessica Bryson led the day going 4-for-6 from the plate hitting a double and triple in game one.
Southern earns their first SSC series win of the year and improves to 16-19 overall and 5-13 in the conference.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 4, PALM BEACH ATLANTIC 2
At the bottom of the second is when FSC made their move scoring three runs to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Mariah Rodriguez and
Victoria Rodriguez both opened up the inning with back-to-back singles to get in scoring position.
Bryson hit a bases-clearing double that scored both runners and later stole third and scored on a throwing error to make it 3-0. The final run for the Mocs came again from Bryson hitting a triple scoring
Frankie Raeckers who was standing on first after a single to left field.
In the top of the sixth, the Sailfish cut the Mocs lead in half making it 4-2, but that was all FSC defense allowed as they took game one.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 5, PALM BEACH ATLANTIC 7
The Mocs continued their momentum from the first game into game two scoring four runs in the bottom of the first to take an early 4-0 lead. Senior
Jadin Dewith started it off with a walk and scored on an RBI double from freshman
Destiny Colgate to make it 1-0. M. Rodriguez doubled to left field scoring Colgate. V. Rodriguez hit a single to right that scored
Myah Moy who reached on a walk to make it 3-0. The final run of the inning was on an RBI from Raecker to start off game two with a 4-0 lead.
PBA cut the Mocs lead down to 4-1 in the top of the second, and tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the third. In the top of the fourth, the Sailfish took a 6-4 lead and capitalized on their lead with their final run in the top of the sixth.
FSC tried to get a rally going in the bottom of the seventh scoring
Jadyn Bushnell who hit a single to left-center field and later scored on a bases-loaded walk to Raeckers. With bases still loaded the Mocs tried to come up with two more runs to tie the game but relief pitcher for PBA, Cambria Arturo threw one pitch to seal the 7-5 win for the Sailfish.
In the circle,
Kaylee Cowart collected her first win of the season, while
Mel Rogers earned her fourth save and second in the series.
Kayla Hickey and
Cat Buckner each pitched two innings striking out three batters on the day.
UP NEXT
The Mocs will hit the road next Thursday, April 14 as they travel to face Lynn University in a three-game SSC series. The Mocs and Knights will face off at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday and 12:00 p.m. on Friday in a doubleheader.
