Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 BOX SCORE ONE | BOX SCORE TWO
MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern softball team (12-13, 1-5 SSC) was swept by the Florida Tech Panthers (13-12, 4-2 SSC), 4-2 and 5-4, Wednesday at the Nancy Bottge Field.
The Panthers were able to sweep the Sharks for the first time since 2011, the last time these two teams met in Melbourne.
Erika Garcia (Jr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and
Ashley Silveira (Sr., Miami, Fla.) were the bright spots in the Sharks' batting order on the day, going a combined 7-for-11 with three RBI.
Jennie Von Doellen (Jr., Hudson Bay, Canada) added five more strikeouts to her season total, allowing seven hits in game one.
Despite getting the loss in game two,
Laura Saladrigas (Sr., Hollywood, Fla.) pitched a solid six innings, posting a 1.17 ERA, walking only one batter and striking out two.
Game One
The Panthers got their offense going in the second inning, when leadoff hitter Lindsy Dugan crushed a solo home run over the left field fence for the first run of the game. Later in the inning, FIT brought two more runs across on a two-run single by Elaine Brown, making the score 3-0.
FIT was able to get another run across in the third, before a Garcia single up the middle brought home
Samira Tanaka (Jr., Sao Paulo, Brazil) to cut the Sharks' deficit back down to three at 4-1.
The Sharks saw their final run come across in the sixth, when a
Melanie Spicola (So., Umatilla, Fla.) chopper up the middle bounced over Panther pitcher Taylor Smith to bring home
Chrissy Tabulov (Fr., Palm Harbor, Fla.) from third. However, Smith got out of a bases-loaded jam to end the inning, to keep the score to the eventual final, 4-2.
The Sharks left eight runners on base to the Panthers' five.
Game Two
Florida Tech got things going in the second inning, scoring four runs on two Shark errors. However, the Sharks got on the board in the next half-inning, when Silveira belted a RBI double into the gap in left-center field to get
Lorena Spaulding (So., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) home all the way from second base.
The Sharks were able to keep the rally going in the fourth, as Spicola’s slow roller to third forced a bad throw over the first baseman’s head to advance
Shelby Talon (Fr., Boyton Beach, Fla.) home from second.
FIT was able to score another run in the bottom fourth on a stolen base of home to make the score 5-2.
The Sharks made the game interesting in the sixth, when a Tanaka double up the middle brought home Spicola from third. During the next at-bat, Silveira drilled a ball just past the second baseman of the Panthers to bring Tanaka home from second, making the score 5-4.
After a three-up, three-down sixth inning from Saladrigas, Garcia was able to get a base hit into shallow right-center to lead off the seventh for the Sharks. Silveira’s sacrifice bunt advanced Garcia over to second, but pitcher Amanda Smith was able to retire the next two Shark batters to end the game in dramatic fashion.
The Sharks are back home on Friday, March 8, and Saturday, March 9, at the AD Griffin Sports Complex to battle Eckerd in another Sunshine State Conference series.
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