LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Southern College softball team raced to beat the elements as they fell to Barry University 3-1 in Sunshine State Conference action on Friday evening.
The Moccasins (5-6, 2-2 SSC) had five hits on the night while Buccaneers (9-7, 2-2 SSC) finished with seven.
Skyler Ralstin went 1-for-1 from the plate with a triple and a run scored, while pitcher
Ella Torres went 1-for-2, followed by
Kate Mikle also going 1-for-1. The remaining hits were by
Destiny Colgate and
Taylor Thomas hitting back-to-back singles in the bottom of the fourth.
Barry was led by Caroline Figueroa going 3-for-3 with a double and one run scored. In the circle, Maci Barnhard (2-5) got the win pitching a complete game allowing just one run on five hits while striking out seven. Torres tossed five innings after getting the nod in the circle before turning it over to
Ashley Blessin. The right-handed pitcher faced eight batters in the two innings, allowing no hits and striking out three batters. Torres faced 23 batters having just one walk while striking out four batters.
Both teams opened the first inning with three up, three down with Barry getting the upper hand in the top of the second as leadoff batter Figuerora doubled to left field to automatically get in scoring position. Torres had back-to-back strikeouts, but a dropped third strike allowed the Bucs to score and make it 1-0 with two outs. Torres would face two more batters before ending the inning with her third strikeout swinging.
Florida Southern tied the game in the bottom of the inning, as Ralstin hit a deep ball to right center field advancing all the way to third. In the next at bat,
Kelsey Kadlub grounded out to second as Ralstin scored to tie the game 1-1 and Kadlub earned the RBI.
In the top of the third, the Bucs leadoff with a single and moved to second on a ground out. Barry hit back-to-back singles to score and take back the lead, 2-1. With two outs, third baseman Alexis Toledo hit an RBI single to increase the Bucs lead to 3-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Mocs had momentum loading the bases with just one out as Colgate and Thomas singled and Ralstin walked but a hit from
Shelbie Valencia lined straight to the glove of the Bucs left fielder to close the inning. FSC continued to try and put runners in scoring positions but the Mocs could not pull ahead and dropped the series opener 3-1.
Florida Southern returns to action tomorrow with a doubleheader on Chris Bellotto field as the Mocs look ahead at a rematch against Barry. The first pitch is scheduled at 1 p.m.
