Florida Tech Splits with #14 Florida Southern Taking the SSC Series 2-to-1

LAKELAND, Fla.(softball) – Junior Amber West (Apopka, Fla.) found a way to do it again. Florida Tech’s junior pitcher threw 10 shutout innings to thwart a
magnificent performance by Florida Southern’s Megan Brown, giving the Panthers a 1-0 win in the first game of Wednesday night’s doubleheader. Giving the
two-time SSC Pitcher of the Week the edge with the only hurler in the series to go an undefeated 2-0 against the perennial powerhouse Mocs for the first
time in Tech’s softball history.

Junior Ali Wiegand (Tallahassee, Fla.) lead Tech for the series including the make-up doubleheader hitting .333 with three hits including a double shot
also notching one run along with one RBI.

Junior, 5-0 Jen Wise (Auburndale, Fla) also slammed her ninth homer pulling into the second spot in the SSC for homeruns.

Both Brown and the 14th-ranked Moccasins won game two, 5-1, with Angela Williams and Leah English both driving in runs during a four-run fifth inning.

For the second week in a row, West held the top hitting team in the Sunshine State Conference without a run, as she allowed just five hits, struck out
seven and walked three. She had pitched a three-hit shutout against the Moccasins (40-12, 13-5 Sunshine State Conference) on April 9. Brown , despite the
tough loss, allowed just three hits, with 12 strikeouts and one walk, but West earned the win after the Panthers (40-23, 16-8) scored an unearned run in
the top of the tenth.

It was the eighth shutout of the year for West, who improved her record to 18-9, including a 12-2 mark with a 0.48 ERA since early March. Brown, meanwhile,
lost her fifth 1-0 game of the year, her third in 10 innings. Her 12 strikeouts, though, were a season-high and allowed her to break the school’s career
record previously held by Dori Stankewitz..

Brown had a no-hitter through six innings before Katie Naumoff (Polan, Ohio) led off the seventh with a single into right center. The Panthers were unable
to score though, and did not have another base runner until Wiegand started the tenth inning with a single. Junior Ashley Lugo (Cape Coral, Fla.) then
reached on an error, and Wiegand scored on a base hit up the middle by Wise.

After picking up just two hits through the first seven innings, the Moccasins got singles from English and Jesse Shepherd in the bottom of the eighth,
along with a walk by Nikki Henderson, but left the bases loaded. In the ninth, Jackie Leppla reached on a leadoff single, but the Mocs were unable to move
her and the inning ended with a caught stealing.

West also started game two, but the Moccasins knocked her out in the second inning after Leppla and Lang singled on consecutive pitches to open the inning.
With relief pitcher Judith Husband (Wewahitchka, Fla.) in the game, Williams bunted both runners over, and English reached on an infield single that
Husband was unable to field between the pitching circle and home plate. Husband picked up the second out, but Henderson chopped a single down the third
base line to plate Lang.

That run tied the game at one after the Panthers had gone ahead in the top of the second on a solo home run by Wise. It was the only run allowed by Heidi
Schumacher, but when the Panthers got two-out singles from Danielle Stanley and Laura Chisena in the fifth inning, the Moccasins brought Brown into the
game.
The Moccasins would score four more after some misplayed balls by Tech and unfortunately felt the loss 5-3.

GAME ONE

Florida Tech 1, Florida Southern 0 (04/18/07 at Lakeland, FL) (Game 1)
———————————————————————-
Florida Tech…….. 000 000 000 1 – 1 3 0 (40-22, 16-7)
Florida Southern…. 000 000 000 0 – 0 5 3 (39-12, 12-5)
———————————————————————-
Pitchers: Florida Tech – Amber West. Florida Southern – Megan Brown.
Win-Amber West(18-9) Loss-Megan Brown(24-7) T-2:23 A-0
Game: FTS62

GAME TWO

Florida Southern 5, Florida Tech 1 (04/18/07 at Lakeland, FL) (Game 2)
———————————————————————-
Florida Tech…….. 010 000 0 – 1 7 1 (40-23, 16-8)
Florida Southern…. 010 040 X – 5 9 0 (40-12, 13-5)
———————————————————————-
Pitchers: Florida Tech – Amber West; Judith Husband(2); Heather Boyts(6). Florida Southern –
Heidi Schumacher; Megan Brown(5).
Win-Megan Brown(25-7) Loss-Judith Husband(16-7) T-1:55 A-90
HR FTS – Jen Wise (9).
Game notes:
10-minute rain delay in top of fourth inning
West faced 2 batters in the 2nd.
Game: FTS63