FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern softball team is on a roll as it increases its win streak to four games, picking up a doubleheader sweep over the visiting Thorobreds of Kentucky State University on Tuesday night at the AD Griffin Sports Complex.
The two wins improve NSU to 5-7 overall and serve as the longest win streak for the Sharks since Feb. 2013. Kentucky State drops to 0-7.
GAME ONE
It was an all-NSU affair in the first game of the night, as the Sharks welcomed the Thorobreds with an 8-0 run-rule win in six innings.
Megan Granitto pushed the Sharks to the limit with a three-run bomb to left field in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the game short.
The Sharks were first to get on board in the third inning when
Dana Edmundson used a triple to right first to score
Samantha Gonzales, who reached two batters prior with a single through the left side. The next batter,
Dakota Villella, tallied the second run of the inning with an RBI single, plating Edmundson.
Two innings later in the bottom of the fifth, NSU tacked on two more utilizing an error by KSU's second baseman, taking a 4-0 lead.
With one out, a single by Gonzales in the bottom of the sixth, followed by a stolen base, put NSU in scoring position as the next batter,
Mary Acosta doubled down the right-field line to bring Gonzales home. After a groundout by Edmundson advanced Acosta to third, Villella was hit by a pitch and stole second immediately, putting runners at second and third with Granitto at the plate and the game-ending homerun ensued.
Edmundson was 2-for-4 in game one with an RBI and two scored runs while Villella was 1-for-2 with an RBI, two scored runs and three stolen bases. Gonzales went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Granitto finished 1-for-3 with three RBI and a scored run.
Lexie Storrer went the distance for NSU, seeing action in all 6.0 innings and improving her record to 3-3, striking out six and allowing only two hits.
GAME TWO
The Sharks' momentum didn't carry right away into the start of the nightcap, as back-to-back errors proved costly and KSU grabbed an early 1-0 advantage.
NSU was quick to respond, however, as the bats were swinging in the home-half of the inning and the Sharks took back the lead on RBI singles by Storrer and
Ashley Roe and a sacrifice fly by
Sydney Lageyre.
A Villella RBI single in the second gave NSU a 4-1 edge before the two teams exchanged runs in the third, bringing the overall score to 5-2 in NSU's favor.
The Sharks looked like they were going to run-rule the Thorobreds once more in the bottom of the fourth, tallying four runs with two outs on the board, but it wasn't enough as a ground out with the winning run on first ended the inning and the scoring for the Sharks.
Kentucky State wasn't about to give up, however, as the visiting team scored two more runs in the top of the seventh, bringing the score to 9-4. With runners at second and third,
Erica Winter earned her second win of the season, striking out the final batter of the game, Kaitlin Oshiro, looking.
Villella was a smoking 3-for-4 in the nightcap, tallying an RBI and two scored runs while adding two more stolen bases, bringing her final total of the night to six. Both Roe and Lageyre were 2-for-3 with two RBI while Lageyre scored twice.
Winter (2-1) earned the win for the Sharks, allowing four runs (3 ER) on eight hits with six strikeouts in all 7.0 of work.
The Sharks will open up Sunshine State Conference play this weekend as they travel to Miami Shores, Fla. to take on Barry in a three-game series beginning Friday, Feb. 24 at 6:00 p.m.
