GAME ONE BOX | GAME TWO BOX
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Sara DeMuth (Sr., Plant City, Fla.) sat down 13 batters in each game of a doubleheader against Palm Beach Atlantic (21-16) Tuesday night, as the Nova Southeastern softball team (22-18) defeated the Sailfish 2-1 in each game. With her sixth strikeout in game one, DeMuth broke the single-season strikeout record of 217 and now has 238 during her senior campaign.
Game One Recap
It took three extra innings, but the Sharks topped the Sailfish, 2-1, in a game that saw DeMuth record 13 strikeouts, surpassing Lexi Sarradet’s single-season strikeout record of 217 in a season. DeMuth finished game one with 225 on the season.
NSU took an early lead on PBA, plating its first run in the bottom of the first inning.
Lorena Spaulding (Fr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) led off the inning for the Sharks with an infield single to third base. She then proceeded to steal second with
Jaimee Vega (Jr., Loxahatchee, Fla.) then providing a sacrifice bunt to move her over to third.
The Sharks’ third batter of the inning,
Katie Kelton (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) followed with a deep sacrifice fly to right field that gave Spaulding the time needed to tag up and score to put NSU ahead, 1-0.
The NSU record books were officially altered in the third inning, as DeMuth registered her sixth strikeout of the contest to give her 218 during the 2012 campaign, setting a new single season mark.
The scoreboard continued to put up zeros in each half inning until the top of the sixth when PBA notched its only run of the game. Miranda Welch knocked a triple down the right field line and then scored on a fielder’s choice play in the next at bat.
DeMuth and Mary Pippin, PBA’s starting pitcher, would then take over the game again as neither team was able to push another runner across home plate through regulation. After two and one-half innings of scoreless play in extras, the Sharks would snap the tie in the bottom of the 10th.
Gina Bondarenko (So., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) led off with a single through the left side and was then pinch run for by
Marissa Raimo (Jr., Hampton Bays, N.Y.). After a sacrifice bunt,
Laura Saladrigas (Jr., Hollywood, Fla.) drilled a walk-off double to left center that scored Raimo from second and gave NSU the 2-1 victory.
Saladrigas was the only Shark batter with multiple hits in the game, accounting for two of NSU’s five hits.
Game Two Recap
The Sharks needed only the standard seven innings this time, but the end result was the same, as NSU topped PBA 2-1. Once again Sara DeMuth registered 13 strikeouts, while improving to 16-14 on the season.
The Sailfish got on the board first in game two, tallying a run in the top of the first. Lisa Santos singled to right field to score Kara Anderson and give PBA a 1-0 lead early on.
The Sharks struck back in the bottom of the second, with DeMuth helping her own cause with a triple and a run scored. Emery would garner credit for the RBI, singling to left field to give DeMuth the opportunity to jog home to tie the game, 1-1.
The next three and one-half innings would go by scoreless, with DeMuth striking out at least two Sailfish in each half inning she pitched. NSU would snap the tie in the sixth.
With base runners on second and third, Emery hit a sacrifice fly to the warning track, allowing pinch-runner
Holly Roberson (So., Dunnellon, Fla.) to tag and score. The run would be all the Sharks would need, as DeMuth would get the first three batters out in the seventh, including sitting down Anderson with a strikeout looking to end the game. It was the 54th time this season that DeMuth has sat a batter down with the bat still on their shoulder, another new single-season record.
The Sharks will jump back into conference play this weekend, travelling to Saint Leo to take on the Lions in a three-game set that begins Friday at 7 p.m.
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