FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Nova Southeastern University Softball team (9-6) will open Sunshine State Conference play this weekend with three games against Eckerd College (9-6) in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Sharks will face the Tritons at 7 p.m. on Friday and continue play Saturday with a doubleheader at 1 p.m.
The Sharks improved their record to 9-6 after going 8-3in their last 11 games. Most recently, NSU went 3-1 in last weekend's Sailfish Showdown tournament. The Sharks shutout out Charleston, 8-0, and Goldey-Beacom, 13-0. They allowed 16 runs in four games, 12 of which came from their loss against Flagler, 12-8.
Gina Bondarenkoo (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) currently leads the team with a .486 batting average, going 18-for-37 for the season thus far. She totals 16 RBI, nine of those coming in the last four games.
Erika Garcia (Sr., Pembroke Pines) leads the team with 19 RBI and set a new personal-best RBI mark in last Friday's game versus Merrimack at five. Defensively, the team only allowed 26 hits in 24 innings of play.
Eckerd College has won nine of its last 10 games, shutting-out on Goshen (Ind.) College on Monday in a doubleheader series, 6-0 and 10-0.
Chelsea Jeffares currently leads the Tritons, starting all fifteen games and holding a .378 batting average. In Eckerd's doubleheader on Monday, Jeffares went 3-for-4, driving in two runs and notching four RBI.
NSU leads Eckerd in all-time play, 34-6. The last time the teams met was March 9, 2013, in which the Sharks lost both games, 4-3 and 10-4. Both teams will look to begin SSC play on a solid note with a series win this weekend.
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