March 3, 2026
Graham's Perfect Game Highlights Bucs Sweep of Titans
Charlotte Graham threw just the second perfect game in FSW program history on Tuesday to highlight a doubleheader sweep for #4 Florida SouthWestern against St. Petersburg in Citrus Conference action at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Charlotte Graham threw just the second perfect game in FSW program history on Tuesday to highlight a doubleheader sweep for #4 Florida SouthWestern against St. Petersburg in Citrus Conference action at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.
The Bucs got off to a quick start against the Titans in game one of the doubleheader as Zoe Yzaguirre struck out the side in the 1st and punched out two more in the 2nd to allow FSW to take their first lead of the game in the bottom of the 2nd when Lizzy Kwakernaak drove home a run with a groundout and Stephanie Basso laced an RBI double down the left field line to give the Bucs an early 2-0 lead.
Basso was back in the middle of the action for the Bucs in the 4th as she launched her third home run in four games to double the Bucs lead to 4-0 at the end of four.
St. Pete showed some fight in the 5th as they cracked the scoreboard for the first time, getting back to back one out singles to plate a pair of runs and cut the Bucs lead in half to 4-2.
Emma Rose Payette picked up an RBI single to add to the Bucs lead in the 5th and they put two more insurance runs up in the 6th as Megan Veilleux singled through the right side to put a bow on a 7-3 victory for FSW in game one.
Basso led the FSW offense, going 2-3 with a homer and three RBIs while Senna Grootings had two hits and scored twice. Yzaguirre went four innings and struck out nine to earn the win to improve to 8-1 on the year while Alexandra Solo came in and earned her first career save with two innings of work to close things out.
Game two saw arguably the most dominantly pitched game in Bucs history on the mound.
FSW starter Charlotte Graham struck out the side in the top half of the 1st to set the tone for what was to come over the next five innings for the Titans; not much of anything.
The Bucs jumped out to a lead right away as Kaitlyn Klismith tripled to lead off the FSW 1st and Noelani Livingstone singled on a bunt to put runners on the corners. The Bucs took advantage of a pair of errors as well as an RBI single from Kwakernaak to score four times and take a 4-0 lead at the end of one.
Graham struck out the side for the second time in three innings in the 3rd to keep it a 4-0 game and FSW added to their lead in the bottom half of the frame as Grootings drove an RBI double off the wall in left to make it 5-0 Bucs.
The Bucs blew the game open in the 4th , scoring eight times, highlighted by a bases clearing triple from Veilleux and two run singles from Abbie Shellabarger and Makayla Jakubuwski to make it 13-0 FSW at the end of four.
The offensive explosion in the 4th masked what was going on in the circle for the Bucs as Graham returned to the rubber for her fifth inning of work and worked another 1-2-3 frame, striking out the last two players she faced to give her 11 on the afternoon while securing just the second perfect game in Buccaneers history in the process.
It was 15 up, 15 down, 11 of them via the strikeout for Graham who throws the first perfect game for the Bucs since Sarah Lawton did so nearly six years ago during the 2019 season. She needed just 57 total pitches to complete the perfecto, 43 of those offerings landing in the strike zone.
Veilleux paced the Bucs offense, finishing 2-3 with three RBIs and a pair of runs scored.
The sweep moves the Bucs to 21-3 overall on the year while taking over sole possession of first place in the Citrus Conference standings at 7-1. St. Pete falls back to .500 at 10-10 and drops to 1-3 in conference action.
The wins for the Bucs sets up a big doubleheader Saturday in Melbourne as #4 FSW and #6 Eastern Florida go head to head for early season Citrus supremecy in a doubleheader beginning at 1 PM.
