Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Florida Tech's Rachel Pence demonstrated why she is one of the best pitchers in the Sunshine State Conference when the Eckerd softball team played host to the Panthers at the Turley Athletic Complex on Friday night.
Pence tossed her second career no-hitter to pick up her conference-leading 27th win as Florida Tech opened the weekend series with a 4-0 victory.
Eckerd (23-17-1, 7-9 SSC) also got a solid performance in the circle from
Nikole Van Gennep, who held the Panthers (35-11, 13-3 SSC) to one run over six innings before an unfortunate bounce in the seventh allowed FIT to score three runs.
With the bases loaded and one out, Florida Tech attempted a squeeze but failed to get the bunt down. The lead runner was hung up as a result, but the throw to third glanced off of her and into an empty spot in center field. All three runners came in to score on the play and made it a four-run game.
As they did last weekend against Barry, the Tritons threatened in the bottom of the seventh.Â
Kaleigh Floyd was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and
Kaycie Duncan followed with a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. However, Pence coaxed pop-ups out of the next two hitters and ended the game with a strikeout to kill the Eckerd threat.
The no-hit bid was aided by a pair of stellar plays on hard-hit balls by the Tritons.Â
Chelsea Armstrong ripped a grounder to shortstop in the bottom of the fifth, but FIT's Krista Patterson knocked it down and her throw to first was scooped out of the dirt by Hailey Leonard.Â
Janna Gaburo then led off the bottom of the sixth with a rocket to left field, where Ashley Montion made a shoestring catch to record the out.
Carrie Shere also narrowly missed a home run in the fourth.
Van Gennep (14-12) allowed six hits, four of which came in the last inning, and struck out six in the defeat.
The series concludes tomorrow with a double-header beginning at 1:00 PM.
