LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Southern College softball team fell in both games of its doubleheader against RV Saint Leo University falling in game one 3-0 before an 11-1, 5-inning game to close out the series Saturday afternoon at Chris Bellotto Field.
The game served as the Breast Cancer Awareness game where the two teams united today as a community to support the fight against breast cancer. The game was dedicated to breast cancer where both teams supported breast cancer awareness by wearing pink ribbons, jerseys, and laces. Breast cancer affects one in eight women in the United States, and it's a disease that touches all of us in some way. Florida Southern's assistant coach Marti Littlefield and Saint Leo's head coach Erin Kineberger threw out the first pitch.Â
The Moccasins (7-32, 2-19 SSC) saw contributions on both ends from Kayla Hickey in the circle and Gabby Young in the outfield and on the base paths against the Lions (30-9, 13-6 SSC) and both Tierney and Chloe Hocquard.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 0, SAINT LEO 3
In the first game of two, Hickey had a strong showing holding Saint Leo to just three runs with two of them being earned. A major part of this success was due to the Mocs forcing ground balls and popups with runners on to limit damage against the Lions, forcing them to leave eight batters on. The Mocs, despite the stellar pitching, three errors and just two hits limited the Mocs' ability to climb back to find the win against the Lions.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 1, SAINT LEO 11
Going into the second game the Florida Southern offense looked to bounce back, but found themselves down early because of a triple in the first by the Lions and four runs scored in the first two innings of play. The Mocs looked to answer with some runs of their own, finding their first of the day in the fourth inning of play thanks to Young going from first to home off Kelsey Kadlub's second double of the season.Â
This run came at a point where momentum had swung in the Mocs' favor with them holding the lines to zero runs in the third and fourth combined. That momentum was halted once the fifth came around with the Lions finding seven runs in the top of the fifth, a hole too big to climb out of for Florida Southern, ending the game via mercy rule in the 11-1 loss. In the loss, Kelly Keating was the other Moc to find a hit in a pinch-hitting appearance with there being three in the game for Florida Southern with Young and Kadlub having the others.
The Mocs will hit the road for the final time this season as they head south to face Palm Beach Atlantic University in the Sunshine State Conference series. The first pitch is scheduled for Friday, April 11 at 6:00 p.m.
If you would like to make donations toward coach Marti Littlefield's fight against breast cancer please click here.Â
