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Box Score 2
BOX SCORE VS UWF | BOX SCORE VS CSU
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University softball team (7-2) topped the West Florida Argonauts (5-4), 6-2, before dropping its final game of the 2013 Eckerd Invitational to the No. 10 Columbus State Cougars (6-3), 6-5, on Sunday, Feb. 10, at the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla.
The Sharks finished the tournament in second place out of the 15-team field behind SSC rival No. 8 Tampa, who got first on a runs-allowed tiebreaker. Tampa allowed 11 to the Sharks’ 12.
Jennie Von Doellen (Jr., Hudson Bay, Canada) (5-2) continued her impressive start to the season, recording 17 more strikeouts in 11 and two thirds innings, bringing her total to an impressive 45 on the season.
Sunday proved to be the best hitting day for the Sharks, as they had five batters who hit over .300 and four who had two RBI. Melanie Spicola (So., Umatilla, Fla.) recorded a whopping .600 average in the two games along with her two RBI.
Freshmen Chrissy Tabulov (Palm Harbor, Fla.) and Shelby Talon (Boynton Beach, Fla.) also had breakout performances on Sunday, as they combined for three RBI on five hits.
GAME ONE AGAINST UWF
The Sharks cruised past West Florida (5-4) in the early game, behind another fantastic pitching performance from Von Doellen, 6-2. The Canada native struck out 11 batters and allowed just three hits in seven innings pitched.
The first runs of the game came in the bottom of the third when Samira Tanaka (Jr., Sao Paulo, Brazil ) belted a ball into left centerfield, bringing home Spicola and Tabulov to give the Sharks an early 2-0 lead. NSU added another run in the third, when a single from Laura Saladrigas (Sr., Hollywood, Fla.) brought in Lorena Spaulding (So., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) from third.
After unearned runs from West Florida in the fourth and sixth innings cut the lead to 3-2, the Sharks added three more runs of its own in the bottom of the sixth. Tabulov’s base knock forced a fielding error from the right fielder to bring home Saladrigas from second. Spicola’s well hit ball into right field brought in Tabulov and Chelsea Emery (Sr., Eustis, Fla.), for the final two runs of the game.
GAME TWO VS CSU
A walk-off home run from Cougar sophomore pitcher Kristen Carr in the bottom of the seventh inning was the difference in a 6-5 loss in the final game of the tournament.
The game started promising for the Sharks, when in the first inning Saladrigas’ slow line drive to the shortstop was able to advance Spaulding home and give NSU an early 1-0 lead. CSU answered in its half the first, when a Casey Googe brought in a run off of two defensive errors from the Sharks. A well hit ball down the left base line brought in Googe later in the inning, giving CSU its first lead of the game.
After the Cougars added two more runs in the second inning to stretch the lead to 4-1, the Sharks exploded for a four-run third inning explosion. Ashley Silveira (Sr., Miami, Fla.) started the scoring steak, when her single into right field brought Spaulding in for her second run of the game. Tabulov then got her second RBI of the day with the bases loaded, when she connected with a pitch that was sent into the gap between third and short, scoring Saladrigas standing up. Talon kept the momentum going with a base hit to second that brought Erika Garcia (Jr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) home, to tie the score at 4-4. The Sharks got one more run after Spicola was walked with the bases loaded, giving the Sharks back the lead.
Before her eventual walk-off homerun in the bottom of the seventh, Carr brought in the game-tying run, drilling a single down the left field line in the bottom half of the third inning.
Solid pitching for both teams kept zeros on the scoreboard until the game came to an abrupt end with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Even with the disappointing walk-off loss, the Sharks tie their best nine-game start since the 2010 season.
The Sharks will travel to Arizona for the Division II Lead-off Classic in Tuscan, Ariz., Friday, Feb. 15.
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