February 10, 2024
Bucs Blast the Competition On Day One In Dothan
The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers blew through the competition on day one of the Visit Dothan Invitational in Alabama on Friday, run ruling Shelton State 9-1 in their first game of the afternoon before blanking Northwest Shoals 7-0 behind a 12 strikeout effort from Esmee Ames in the circle in their second contest.
DOTHAN, Ala.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers blew through the competition on day one of the Visit Dothan Invitational in Alabama on Friday, run ruling Shelton State 9-1 in their first game of the afternoon before blanking Northwest Shoals 7-0 behind a 12 strikeout effort from Esmee Ames in the circle in their second contest.
The Bucs got the scoring going right away after their long trip to the Heart of Dixie as Maddy Golka smacked a two run single to right in the top of the 2nd inning against Shelton State to give FSW a quick 2-0 lead in the battle of the Bucs.
Shelton got a one out triple followed by a single to get their lone run of the game in the bottom of the 2nd but FSW answered with two of their own in their next trip to the plate with Skylar Brennan and Virginia Mambelli picked up RBIs to make it a 4-1 game.
Bucs starter Lea Chevrier worked around some traffic in the 3rd to keep it a three run lead in favor of FSW before the Bucs padded their lead to 6-1 on an RBI single from Emily Allegood and a triple from Brennan to drive her in in the 4th .
FSW loaded the bases with two outs in the 5th on a pair of hit batters and a bunt single to set the table for Allegood who cleared the pillows with a triple to dead center to blow the lead open to 9-1 after 4 ½ innings of action.
Leah Meyer came in out of the FSW bullpen to finish things off in the 5th and that she did, working a 1-2-3 frame including a pair of strikeouts to close it out and kick in the run rule as the Bucs took it 9-1 in five.
The Bucs out hit Shelton 12-5 in the win with Sydney McCray going a perfect 3-3 with a pair of runs scored at the top of the lineup and Allegood finishing 2-4 with a triple and four RBIs in the middle. Chevrier earned the win in the circle with four solid innings of work with five strikeouts to improve to 3-0 on the year.
It was more of the same for the Bucs in game two of their split doubleheader against Northwest Shoals as Esmee Ames struck out a pair in a scoreless top of the 1st and FSW tallied a run in the bottom to jump in front early 1-0.
Ames punched out the side in the 2nd and dialed up two more punchouts in the 3rd to keep the Bucs ahead 1-0 after 2 1/2.
FSW opened things up in the bottom of the 3rd as Sietske Drijvers laced an RBI triple to center to double the lead to 2-0 and three straight two out hits resulted in runs including another RBI triple from Ella Moore stretched the Buccaneer lead to 5-0 after three.
For the second time in the game, Ames recorded all three outs in the 5th via the strikeout to give her a dozen in the game and keep it a 5-0 lead in favor of FSW.
Moore joined elite company with her second triple of the game in the bottom of the 5th to drive in two more runs and make it a 7-0 game and for the second straight game Leah Meyer did the rest, closing out the contest with a pair of scoreless innings to seal up the 7-0 win for FSW.
Ames was lights out in the circle for the Bucs in the win, improving to 2-0 on the year with five scoreless frames, allowing just three hits while striking out a career high 12. Moore paced the offense going 2-3 with a pair of triples and three RBIs while Maddy Golka went 2-2 and drove in a run of her own.
The Bucs remain perfect on the season at 6-0 while now having outscored their opponents 48-5 on the year.
FSW will look to stay unbeaten tomorrow when they take on Central Alabama and Southern Union to wrap up their trip to Alabama.