Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Nova Southeastern softball team split its doubleheader against No. 22 Palm Beach Atlantic Tuesday, April 1st, at the AD Griffin Sports Complex.
Game One
The Sharks dropped their first game, 3-2, after the Sailfish scored the winning run in the seventh.
NSU scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first. Melanie Spicola (Jr., Umatilla, Fla.) was walked, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Samira Tanaka (Sr., Sao Paulo, Brazil). Katrina Ammons (Jr., Jacksonville, Fla.) brought her home on a RBI single to rightfield.
With one out on the board, two walks helped load the bases for the Sailfish in the top of the second. Mackenzie Johnson hit a sac fly to centerfield to bring in the tying run of the game. An NSU infield error allowed the second Sailfish run for the early, 2-1 PBA lead.
The second tie of the game came in the bottom of the third. Erika Garcia (Sr., Pembroke Pines) set up the tying run with a single to left field. Next at-bat, Ammons reached base on a fielder's choice. Gina Bondarenko (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) singled through the left side to bring in Courtney Bridge (Fr., Port Coquitlam, Canada), pinch running for Garcia, knotting up the game at 2-2.
No runs would be scored until the top of the seventh. With no outs on the board, a triple by Chelsey Hersey, followed by a RBI double by Theresa Butler put the Sailfish on top for the, 3-2 win.
The loss broke the Sharks' eight-game winning streak.
Game Two
The lead was exchanged five times between the teams until Garcia hit the walkoff RBI single for the Sharks to take the 7-6 win in the eighth inning.
In the opening inning, three hits allowed two Sailfish runners to reach base before Victoria Gonzalez homered to centerfield for a 3-0 lead.
Spiciola set up the Sharks' first run in the game off a single up the middle in the bottom of the first. Two errors on Garcia's single to right field allowed two runners to score and close the Sailfish lead to 3-2.
The Sharks scored two more in the bottom of the second to take a 4-3 lead. Rebecca Thornton (Fr., Lodi, Calif.) set up the first tie of the game with a single down the leftfield line. Next at-bat, Lorena Spaulding (Jr., Pembroke Pines) reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second, advancing Thornton into scoring position. Spicola would be walked to first, loading the bases for the Sharks. Despite the Sailfish changing their pitchers, two PBA infield errors allowed Thornton and Spaulding to score.
Two NSU errors gave Palm Beach Atlantic back the lead, 5-4, in the top of the fifth. An infield error and walk allowed the Sailfish to load the bases. The second infield error allowed Jen Hunter to to tie the game at 4-4. Camille Benito hit an RBI single to shortstop to push the Sailfish ahead.
Bondarenko's second RBI of the night tied the score the for the third time. Ammons was on second base after hitting a double to centerfield. Holly Roberson (Sr., Dunnellon, Fla.), pinch-running for Ammons, advanced to third on a wild pitch and was brought around the bases with a single up the middle by the Sharks' catcher to tie the score at 5-5.
The Sailfish threatened to sweep the Sharks in the top of the seventh inning. First at-bat, Lindsey Johnson tripled down to right field line and was brought home with Victoria Gonzalez's second RBI single in the game.
But with the first at-bat for the Sharks in the bottom of the seventh, Garcia hammered a first-pitch home run to right center and tied the game at 6-6 to force extra-inning play.
Garcia delivered for NSU on both sides of the field in the eighth inning. In the top of the eighth, Garcia, pitching for Thornton, threw back-to-back strikeouts, before the third out was caught by Spaulding in centerfeild.
The Sailfish set-up the game winning run with a infield throwing error that allowed Spicola to reach second base. Garcia then hit the walk-off RBI single into centerfield, allowing Spicola to round the bases and score the game-winning run.
The Sharks will return to conference play on Friday, April 4, in the AD Griffin Sports Complex, facing Florida Southern, with first pitch set for 6 p.m.
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