LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Southern College softball team earned a sweep on Saturday afternoon to win the Sunshine State Conference series 2-1 over visiting Lynn University. FSC earned a 6-0 win in game one of the doubleheader and came back out for game two winning 6-2 to earn the sweep.
The Moccasins hosted the game at Chris Bellotto Field but were considered the visiting team, as the contest was supposed to be played in Boca Raton, but due to construction on the Fighting Knights field, FSC was the host.
From the plate,
Kiki Morris led the way batting a .625, going 5-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, and two batted in. Three other Mocs had two hits on the day, as
Kelsey Kadlub,
Taylor Thomas,
Jadyn Bushnell, and
Shelbie Valencia all had two hits, with Valencia bringing in two runners.
In the circle,
Mel Rogers earned the shutout, pitching a complete game having four strikeouts allowing no runs on five hits. In game two, Thomas pitched a complete game allowing just one earned run on five hits, while striking out three.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 6, LYNN 0
Unlike the series opener, game one of the doubleheader started a little slower for both teams as nothing came across until the top of the fifth.
Kenleigh Smith hit a single to second base, and
Gabby Young followed with a single down the left field line to put Smith in scoring position. With two runners on and just one out, the Fighting Knights called to the bullpen, putting Kayley Zazzali in to face the Mocs offense. A wild pitch from Zazzali moved runners closer to home as she faced Morris at the plate. Morris hit an RBI single to advance the runners bringing Smith home to give FSC a 1-0 lead. In the same inning, Thomas tacked on another run from a sacrifice fly to head into the bottom of the inning with a 2-0 lead.
The Fighting Knights could not cut into the Mocs lead as the game headed into the final inning with FSC up 2-0. A pitching and catching change for Lynn hoped to be the answer to tie the game, but instead, FSC used it to their advantage and tacked on four more runs from errors, batters walked, and a Morris RBI single to win game one 6-2.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 6, LYNN 2
In game two, the Mocs scored early, getting out to a 2-0 lead with two-out back-to-back RBI singles from Kadlub and Valencia. In the following inning, FSC increased their lead to 3-0, scoring on a Lynn error.
In the bottom of the fourth, Lynn broke the no-hitter for Thomas scoring on an RBI single from Aryana Galioto that scored Olivia Lovins who reached on an error. The Fighting Knights continued to close the gap, as they cut the Mocs lead to one, scoring relief pitching Madison Prickett after reaching on a double from an RBI single driven in by Eliza Gonzalez.
With it just a one-run game, Florida Southern put some distance between the two teams scoring three runs in the top of sixth. All of the runs were unearned for Lynn as the Mocs scored on back-to-back errors and scored on a throwing error.
FSC earned a 6-2 lead after the top of the sixth and ended the sixth sending the Fighting Knights down to head into the final inning. Lynn tried to rally with a one-out double from Maiya Reinhart, but FSC forced two outs to take game two, 6-2 to win the series 2-1.
Florida Southern hits the road heading down to Fort Lauderdale to take on Nova Southeastern University. The Mocs will open the series on Friday, April 19 against the Sharks with a 6 p.m. single game.
