Floirda Tech Falls 3-0 to #2 Florida Southern in SSC Softball Action
MELBOURNE, Fla.-Senior catcher Courtney Harless (St. Cloud, Fla.) recorded the only two Panthers hits for the afternoon. Florida Tech (27-7, 8-2)
suffered their second Sunshine State Conference loss on the season losing 3-0 to the #2 Florida Southern (29-2, 6-1) in the afternoon game. With the loss,
Southern moves into the number one spot in the SSC and pushes Tech down to a second place standing.
The first four innings proved to be a pitchers’ dual between Tech’s sophomore Amber West, from Apopka, Florida and the Mocs junior Megan Brown, from
Carrollton, Georgia. Despite the efforts of both hurlers, West (14-2) suffered the loss due to two Panther errors that led to all three runs. West allowed
five hits on three unearned runs, while fanning five and walking one for the afternoon.
Brown (14-2) tossed a scoreless seven innings allowing only two hits while striking out eight Panthers.
Southerns’ runs came in the top of the fifth and the top of the sixth. Sophomore Michelle Tatlock (Largo, Fla.) scored the first run off an attempted
sacrifice fly by junior teammate Nikki Henderson (Gibsonton, Fla.). Henderson, who intended a sacrifice fly, launched it to Tech’s right fielder Danielle
Emhoff (Canton, Conn.). Emhoff quickly snared the ball and sent Tatlock back in the direction of third base, but unfortunately over threw the play at home
permitting the eventual game winning run to score.
In the top of the sixth, the Mocs notched their final two runs. Junior Jesse Shepard (Tampa, Fla.) reached on an error by Tech’s junior third base player
Dana Buccelli (Melbourne, Fla.). Next up, junior Sarah Kohlbrenner (Dunedin, Fla.) singled up the middle. With runners on first and third and two outs,
freshman Natalie Lang (Lakeland, Fla.) plated both Shepard and Kohlbrenner on single down the left line. Both the runs were unearned and Lang would get
caught stealing to end the inning for the Mocs.
Tomorrow both teams will meet again in an SSC doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Varsity Field.
