Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - While hits were hard to come by in Friday night's series opener for Eckerd softball, Saturday's twillbill proved to be quite the opposite.
Eckerd used four extra-base hits to rout No. 23 Tampa in the finale, 8-3. The Tritons (19-30, 8-16 SSC) scored early and never looked back with two runs in the first inning and six runs in innings three through five to take the series from the Spartans.
Rachael Luckett smacked a double off the left field fence to bring in
Crystal Garcia, who led off the game with a single.
Nikole Van Gennep followed with her own double to score Luckett, putting Eckerd up by two in the first inning.
Tampa (28-10, 15-6 SSC) tightened the game in the third scoring off an errant throw, but Eckerd responded with two runs that scored during an intentional walk to Van Gennep. Garcia and
Kaleigh Floyd crossed the plate as the result of two consecutive wild pitches by Tampa's Makaleigh Dooley while attempting to issue the intentional pass.
Garcia continued her hot streak with her third hit of the game in the fourth inning, lacing a ball to left-center and legging out a triple while
Amber Schaad scored from first.
Senior
Kayla Saylor tacked on three insurance runs in the fifth, smoking her first career home run over the left field fence to put Eckerd on top 8-2 in her final plate appearance at the Turley Athletic Complex.
Tampa added a run in the seventh before Van Gennep (14-17) recorded the final out via a strikeout to clinch the series win. Van Gennep scattered five hits while fanning six in the win.
In the day's opener, Eckerd saw a narrow lead slip away as Tampa used two strong innings to take the win by a score of 5-2.
Dana Paul broke the stalemate leading off the fourth inning with a home run to left-center. However, Tampa answered with two runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth.
The Tritons looked to rally, scoring in the sixth via
Kiley King's sacrifice fly. Eckerd then put the winning run at the plate in the seventh, but Tampa was able to retire the side.
Floyd and
Carrie Shere had two hit apiece in the opener and Garcia had three in the finale.
The series win against their rival was special for Eckerd's three seniors - Schaad, King, and Saylor - who were honored between games and before their final contests at the Turley Athletic Complex.
The season concludes next weekend as Eckerd travels to take on Embry-Riddle for a three-games series with a doubleheader Friday at 3:00 PM.
