February 22, 2020
#3 FSW Breezes Past Region 8 Foes
Playing in the place they hope to be come May at the FCSAA State Tournament in Sanford, the #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers continued a dominant stretch on Saturday, first blanking Santa Fe 8-0 in a run rule before taking it to Florida State College at Jacksonville 8-1 to pick up their 10th straight win.
SANFORD, Fla.- Playing in the place they hope to be come May at the FCSAA State Tournament in Sanford, the #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers continued a dominant stretch on Saturday, first blanking Santa Fe 8-0 in a run rule before taking it to Florida State College at Jacksonville 8-1 to pick up their 10th straight win.
In their first game of the day against Santa Fe, the Bucs got on the board first, getting an RBI double from Taylor Jensen in the 2nd to take a 1-0 lead before Jensen scored later in the inning on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. Lindsey Corbin then doubled home another FSW run, making it 3-0 Bucs after two innings of action.
Starting pitcher Haley Ellefson worked a quick 1-2-3 top of the 3rd for FSW and got the Bucs right back up to the bat rack and they rewarded their lefthander with three more in the bottom of the inning, getting an RBI triple from Kayla Domon and a solo home run from Jensen, along with an RBI from Ellefson herself on a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 6-0.
An FSW error allowed Santa Fe a chance to get back into the game in the 4th, but Ellefson came up big with a strikeout to strand a pair of runners and keep it a 6-0 game.
Natavia Ellis cushioned the lead even more in the bottom of the 4th when she cracked her fourth home run of the year, a two run shot, to make it 8-0 FSW.
That was all that Ellefson needed, retiring the Saints in order in the top of the 5th to finish off her shutout and kick in the run rule in an 8-0 Buccaneer win.
Ellefson improved to 7-1 on the year wielding a 2 hit shutout while striking out 4 for the Bucs. Jensen and Ellis powered the offense, combining to go 3-4 with 4 RBIs and 3 runs scored in the victory.
The Bucs did all their work early in their second game of the day as they took on Florida State College at Jacksonville.
The first six hitters of the top half of the 1st inning reached for the Bucs, including RBI singles from Ellis, Jensen, and Owen Bowers to give them a quick 4-0 lead. Later in the inning a Blue Wave error allowed the Bucs to extend the inning and plate another run to make it 5-0 and FSW took advantage of the extra out as Rebeca Laudino ripped a two run double to push the Bucs lead to 7-0 after a half inning of play.
Bowers drove in her third run of the game in the 2nd on a sac fly to left, stretching the Bucs lead to 8-0.
FSCJ broke through for the first time in the game against the Bucs bullpen in the 5th to make it 8-1, but that is all they would get as Clontz came back in to finish what she started, closing out the Blue Wave in the 6th and 7th to wrap up an 8-1 win for the Purple and Aqua.
The Bucs finished with nine hits in the win, getting another solid performance from Jensen who was 3-4, while Laudino and Bowers each went 2-2 while combining for 5 RBIs. Clontz earned the win in the circle, going 4 1/3 shutout innings in two stints, allowing just 3 hits while striking out 3. Alyssa O'Donnell threw two shutout innings out of the FSW bullpen to help preserve the win.
The wins are the ninth and tenth straight for FSW who improves to 14-1 on the year.
The Bucs will be back in action on Sunday when they battle Tallahassee and #5 Chipola to wrap up the weekend.