LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Southern College softball team traveled to Fort Lauderdale for the final Sunshine State Conference road series of the season facing RV Nova Southeastern in game one on Friday evening. The Moccasins (15-28, 7-15 SSC) dropped the series opener 5-0 only getting outhit by one against the Sharks (29-12, 14-8 SSC) with six hits to FSC five at the AD Griffin Complex.
The pitcher,
Taylor Thomas (2-6) led the Mocs from the plate, going 2-for-2 with a double, followed by
Destiny Colgate,
Kelsey Kadlub, and
Kenleigh Smith to make up the other three hits on the scoreboard for FSC.
In the circle, Alyssa Drogemull (16-7) collected the win for the Sharks having just five hits, while earning two strikeouts to match Thomas'. From the plate, Drogemull also led the way going 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a double, and a sacrifice fly.
Florida Southern and Nova Southeastern opened game one of the series with back-to-back three up, and three down for the first inning until Colgate sailed a single into left field for the first hit of the game. The Sharks turned a quick double play to get out of the top of the second and into the bottom with some momentum.
With NSU up to bat, they opened up with a walk and a single to get a runner-scoring position for the first time in the game. A sacrifice bunt allowed both runners to advance and the Sharks had the advantage with two in scoring position. Another sacrifice, this one coming from a flyout gave the Sharks their first run of the game and got out to a 1-0 lead. Shortly a two-out double scored an additional run to give Nova a 2-0 lead after two complete innings.
In the bottom of the third, the Sharks doubled their lead with two doubles to make it 3-0 and a triple that increased the lead to 4-0.
With Nova up 4-0, Florida Southern tried to cut the lead at the top of the fifth with a Thomas double and Colgate single but the Mocs could not catch up to the Sharks lead. In the bottom of the inning, the final run came across home plate as another sacrifice fly allowed Nova Southeastern to jump out to a 5-0 lead.
Smith and Thomas contributed hits in each of the following innings, but the Sharks 5-0 lead earned NSU the win to open the series 1-0.
Florida Southern returns to action tomorrow afternoon against Nova Southeastern to conclude the series with a doubleheader. The first pitch is scheduled for noon.
