GAME ONE BOX|GAME TWO BOX


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern softball team (7-6) defeated the Seahawks from Northwood (Fla.) (3-5) twice Thursday night at the AD Griffin Sports Complex to move above .500 for the first time since opening night. Sara DeMuth (Sr., Plant City, Fla.) recorded eight strikeouts and gave up only three hits in a 9-0 victory in game one, while Barbara Pflug (Fr., Winter Haven, Fla.) pitched a complete game in her first collegiate start, leading the Sharks to a 6-3 win to finish the sweep.
 
GAME ONE
Demuth improved to 4-4 on the season, sitting down eight of the 18 Northwood batters she faced, as the Sharks posted nine runs in the first five innings to secure a 9-0 victory in a shortened contest. Lorena Spaulding (Fr., Hollywood, Fla.) tallied three hits, two stolen bases and scored a run, while Ashley Silveira (Jr., Miami, Fla.) went 2-for-3 with three RBI. Gina Bondarenko (So., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) also went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in a run.
 
NSU, already leading 1-0, had four base runners cross home plate safely in the bottom of the third. Spaulding and Katie Kelton (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) led off the inning with a single each. Spaulding would score thanks to a Northwood error in the next at bat. Bondarenko then stepped to the plate and sent a shot out to left field for a RBI double.
 
The Seahawks switched pitchers with the score 3-0, but the Sharks would add two more runs before the conclusion of the inning. DeMuth kept Northwood off the scoreboard through the fourth and fifth, notching five strikeouts along the way.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, NSU once again posted four runs to extend the lead to nine. Chelsea Emery (Jr., Eustis, Fla.) brought her season RBI total up to six when she drove in Melanie Spicola (So., Umatilla, Fla.) and Dani Millan (So., Ventura, Calif.). Kelly Olencki (So., Milford, Conn.) followed, registering her first hit of the season, a double to deep centerfield that plated Silveira.
 
Ahead 9-0 at the end of the fifth inning, the umpires called the game due to the mercy rule in favor of the Sharks.
 
GAME TWO
Pflug made her first start in the circle as a collegian in the second game, giving up eight hits and three runs (all unearned), as the Sharks took the contest by a score of 6-3. Pflug’s bat was also active, going 2-for-3 at the dish to go with a run scored and a RBI. Bondarenko and Raven Sepulveda (Fr., Tampa, Fla.) each also tallied two hits for the Sharks.
 
Northwood put its first run of the night on the board in the top of the first when Rachel Dirks singled to right field to bring home Chloe Labrador.
 
The Sharks responded swiftly, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. Spaulding was the first of three straight NSU batters to reach base via a walk in the inning. After advancing to second on a balk call and then stealing third, the freshman raced home on a passed ball. Three batters later, Pflug drove in Silveira to give NSU a 2-1 lead.
 
NSU would mimic the first inning in the second and third, posting two runs in each, to push the lead to 6-1. Spaulding and Bondarenko would each be credited with a RBI in the second, while Sepulveda, who went 2-for-2 in the game, was credited with a RBI in the third.
 
The Seahawks put two more runs on the board in the fifth, but Pflug was able to get out of the inning with no more damage and then breeze through the sixth and seventh to pick up the first victory of her collegiate career.
 
The Sharks will return to the field tomorrow, hosting Texas Woman’s at the AD Griffin Sports Complex at 5 p.m.

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