Florida Tech Softball Team Sweeps Defending NCAA Champion Lynn

MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Florida Tech softball team swept a key, early-season Sunshine State Conference doubleheader from defending NCAA Division II champion
Lynn University this afternoon at Varsity Field. Tech captured the first game 3-0 and claimed the nightcap 5-4 in eight innings. With the two wins, Florida
Tech (11-3, 6-0 SSC) extended its winning streak to 10 games and remained tied for first place with Barry University. Lynn fell to 10-10 overall and
dropped to 0-6 in SSC play.

In the first game, Judith Husband (Wewahitchka, Fla.), who is now 4-0 on the season, and Amber West (Apopka, Fla.) combined on a four-hit shutout, while
Laura Chisena (Ocoee, Fla.) collected a pair of doubles to pace the offense. Husband worked six scoreless innings, allowing just three singles and three
walks. She struck out one. West earned her third save of the season, pitching a scoreless seventh inning. She allowed just one single and struck out one.

Chisena broke open the scoring with an RBI double in the third inning, driving home Danielle Emhoff (Canton, Conn.), who drew a leadoff walk. Chisena came
around to score on a Katie Naumoff (Polan, Ohio) sacrifice fly to stake the Panthers to a 2-0 lead.

Tech added an insurance run in the sixth, as Emhoff pushed across pinch runner Thyra Dewey (Chelmsford, Mass.) with a two-out infield single that closed
out the scoring at 3-0.

In the nightcap, Florida Tech rallied from a 4-1 deficit with four runs over the final four innings to close out the three-game series sweep.

Lynn used the long ball to plate three runs in the second inning and claim an early 3-0 lead. Danielle Curcio (Canberra, Australia) slugged a solo home
run, while Ashley Byrd (Boca Raton, Fla.) added a two-run shot to stake the Knights to the early advantage.

Tech trimmed the deficit to 3-1 in the third inning, as Naumoff reached on a one-out double and came around to score on an RBI-single by Megan Hube (Bel
Air, Md.).

In the fourth, Lynn got the run back as Meghan Osborne (Toronto, Ontario) singled in Byrd, who reached on a one-out double, and put the Knights on top 4-1.

Florida Tech began chipping away in the fifth inning, cutting the deficit to 4-3 with two runs. Naumoff doubled home Chisena and eventually came around to
score on a sacrifice fly by Courtney Harless (St. Cloud, Fla.).

The Panthers knotted the score at 4-4 with an unearned run in the sixth. Kristen Fettes (Deltona, Fla.) led off with a single and promptly moved to third
when Lynn pitcher Cristin Kelly (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) fielded a Jennifer Salls (Madison, Fla.) sacrifice bunt, but promptly threw the ball away. Fettes
crossed the plate on a single by Karen D’Alberto.

In the eighth, Florida Tech took advantage of another Lynn miscue to close out the 5-4 win. Salls led off the extra inning with a single and managed to
take second on a bobble by right fielder Stephanie Kelley (Cocoa Beach, Fla.). She promptly came home when D’Alberto laced a game-winning double, her third
hit of the game, to right-center field.

For the Panthers, West went the distance and improved to 7-2 on the season. In eight innings of work, West surrendered four runs on four hits, while
walking three. She struck out eight.

In addition to D’Alberto three-hit effort in the second game, Naumoff and Hube each collected three hits in the doubleheader

Florida Tech returns to action on Monday as they host St. Thomas Aquinas (NY) in a 2:00 p.m. doubleheader.