Mocs Take Two From Tritons in SSC Opener

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd softball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader on Friday evening to open conference play, falling to Florida Southern 4-1 in 10 innings in the opener and 9-1 in the nightcap.

The first game saw a battle in the circle between EC's Nikole Van Gennep and FSC's Kristen Beacham.  Neither surrendered a run in the first nine innings of the contest with Beacham allowing only one hit over that span.

Both pitchers also worked out of a few jams throughout the game.  Van Gennep stranded two runners in the first, seventh and eighth innings while Beacham escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second and left two Tritons on base in the fifth.

Van Gennep got some help from Kiley King in the ninth after King's stellar grab of a line drive turned what was a possible run-scoring hit into an inning-ending double play.  Beacham, though, retired the Tritons in order in the ninth and the Mocs (6-3, 2-0 SSC) finally got to Van Gennep in the 10th with four runs on five hits, including four straight hits that came with two outs.

Eckerd (7-8, 0-2 SSC) got a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Rachael Luckett to score Kaleigh Floyd, but Beacham got the final out of the game with the tying run at the plate.

The game marked the third straight conference contest between Eckerd and Florida Southern to go at least 10 innings.

Florida Southern's bats again came alive late in the second game, scoring three in the sixth and four in the seventh to complete the doubleheader sweep.

The Mocs got on the board quickly after an error led to a run-scoring single by Zierra Flodman, then added another run in the third to chase EC starter Janna Gaburo.

Eckerd cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to a two-out single by Kiley King.  However, FSC pitcher Brandi Jones shut down the Tritons for the remainder of the game stranding four runners in her final three innings of work.

A three-run sixth inning capped by a two-out, two-run hit by Alex Mace widened the gap for Florida Southern.  The Mocs continued to pad their lead in the seventh with four more runs on five hits.

King and Floyd both had two hits in the finale while Crystal Garcia had two hits in the opener.

Van Gennep (4-6) took the loss in game one despite tossing nine scoreless innings.  Gaburo (1-1) was tagged with the game two loss.

The series concludes on Saturday with a single game at 12:30 PM.