Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 BOX SCORE ONE | BOX SCORE TWO
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern softball team (15-21, 2-13 SSC) got a much-needed sweep over the Webber International Warriors (13-11) in a doubleheader Wednesday night at the AD Griffin Sports Complex.
The Sharks took game one in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the 11th, 6-5, then won game two comfortably, 8-0 in six innings. The sweep ended NSU’s eight-game losing streak.
Erika Garcia (Jr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) did it all for the Sharks Wednesday, going 3-for-8, with a team-high five RBI, while also pitching a complete game shutout in game two, striking out five batters and allowing only five hits. This was the second shutout of the season for the Sharks, with the only other one coming Feb. 8 against Georgia College, 4-0.
Lorena Spaulding (So., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) recorded a team-high five hits during the doubleheader, while bringing in two batters on the day.
Game One
It was an
Ashley Silveira (Sr., Miami, Fla.) single into right field in the bottom of the 11th that allowed Garcia to reach home from second, to end the three-hour thriller.
NSU showed promise early, taking a 2-1 lead after the second inning. Although the Warriors scored early on in the top of the first, the Sharks were not shaken up. Garcia brought in the first run of the game for NSU, allowing Spaulding to score from third on a sacrifice fly that was hit deep into centerfield. In the second,
Elizabeth Spring (Fr., West Palm Beach, Fla.) scored on a well-hit ball up the middle by Spaulding.
After the Warriors retook the lead, scoring two runs in the fourth, NSU tied the game up in the same inning. It was fielding error by the center fielder from a ball hit by
Chrissy Tabulov (Fr., Palm Harbor, Fla.) that allowed
Samira Tanaka (Jr., Sao Paulo, Brazil) to score from second, making the score 3-3.
The Warriors regained control in the sixth, putting another run on the board, 4-3, before the Sharks took back the lead in the next half-inning. It was Garcia, who came up big all night, who smacked a single through the left side, scoring both Tanaka and Spaulding, giving the Sharks a 5-4 lead.
NSU was one strike away from ending the game, before the Warriors’ Ashley Peterson found a pitch she liked, crushing an RBI double to the leftfield fence, forcing the game into extra innings.
Webber International was knocking on the door in the 11th, putting runners on second and third with one out. However,
Jennie Von Doellen (Jr., Hudson Bay, Canada) (12-14) used six of her 176 pitches to retire the next two Warrior batters, setting up the Silveira walk-off in the next half inning. The hit was the first for NSU in extra innings.
Webber International outhit the Shark 15-10, while the Warriors recorded two errors to NSU’s one.
Game Two
Both teams got off to a slow start offensively, with neither team scoring a run in the first two innings. The third inning was where the floodgates opened up for the Sharks.
The scoring started on a bizarre sequence, when Spaulding hit a slow grounder to the shortstop's area, however, no one was there to field the ball, allowing
Melanie Spicola (So., Umatilla, Fla.) to score easily from second. After a Tanaka sacrifice bunt brought home Spaulding from third, Garcia doubled to left-center, scoring
Chelsea Emery (Sr., Eustis, Fla.) all the way from first. The Sharks' three-run inning was the biggest of the night.
NSU was able to widen its lead in the fourth, scoring two more runs, led by a Spring RBI triple into right field and a Spicola groundout later in the inning to score Spring. The triple was Spring's first in her collegiate career.
After the Sharks expanded its lead to 7-0 with another two runs in the fifth, Garcia ended it in the sixth with an RBI double.
NSU outhit the Warriors 13-5 in the second game.
The Sharks will look to ride its momentum into Friday, when they take on Albany State in a doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m. at the AD Griffin Sports Complex.
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