FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The NSU softball team picked up the first part of a three-game series against fellow Sunshine State Conference member Eckerd College with a 7-1 win on Friday night at the AD Griffin Sports Complex.
 
With the win, Nova Southeastern sits at an even 17-17 overall and 5-5 in conference, while Eckerd drops to 13-20 on the season and 2-8 against league members.
 
A wild pitch thrown by Eckerd's starting pitcher, Nikole Van Gennep, allowed the Sharks to grab an early 1-0 lead in the first.
 
The Tritons responded in the top half of the second, scoring their lone tally of the game on an RBI-single up the middle by Dana Paul, plating Carrie Shere and tying the ballgame, 1-1.
 
NSU regained the lead in the home half of the third with a sacrifice fly by Megan Granitto before the Sharks exploded in the bottom of the fifth to take a 7-1 lead and the eventual victory. Lexie Storrer led the inning off with a stand-up double to center before a single by Granitto pushed her to third. Back-to-back walks drawn by Ashley Roe and Megan Maloney plated Storrer before Alex Suzuki was hit by a pitch to bring home Granitto and keep the bases loaded with no outs. A single to center by Sydney Lageyre scored Roe, and after a double play made by the Tritons, Dana Edmundson sent a two-RBI single up the middle to bring Lageyre and Suzuki across for NSU's final runs of the game.
 
Edmundson was 2-for-3 with two RBI and one scored run while Storrer finished 2-for-4 and scored once.
 
Storrer (12-7), the SSC's Pitcher of the Week, tallied her fifth-straight win after her 7.0 innings of work, allowing just two hits and one run with four strikeouts.
 
Van Gennep took the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts of her own.
 
The series will conclude tomorrow, Saturday, Mar. 25, with a doubleheader slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. For live coverage, head to NSUSharks.com, or follow @NSU_Softball on Twitter.