Megan Price
In a road series in West Palm Beach, the Florida Southern Moccasins softball team dropped two conference games to the Sailfish, making their record 15 and 24 on the season.
The Mocs went 1-2 In their first matchup of the season against Palm Beach Atlantic. They walked out of the opener of the series with a loss in the scorebook and the final score showing 1-7 on April 12. The Sailfish jumped to an early lead over Florida Southern scoring four of their seven total runs in the first two innings.
Senior Pitcher Aubrey Ehlers struggled in the circle giving up four runs and pitching only three full innings before sophomore Jenna Weldon was brought in for relief. Unfortunately, the Moccasins could not get out of their slump in time to gain any ground on the Sailfish and scored only one run, which came in the seventh inning.
On Saturday, the Mocs traveled back to Simpson Field in West Palm to finish out the three-game series. Another impressive first inning proved to be too much for the Mocs to overcome as they dropped the first game on Saturday with a final score of 0-5. Once again, the Sailfish scored all of their runs in the first two innings.
The major difference in this game came from the hit’s column on the scoreboard. The Sailfish had 14 hits in the game while the Mocs had only six. Freshman Maddi Connor had a strong game offensively going 3-3 and leading the Mocs offensively. This was the first three hit game of Connor’s young career.
After dropping game two of the series, the Moccasins nearly pulled off an astounding comeback but ultimately fell again to the Sailfish with a final score of 4-5 in game three.
The third game was the 24th starting line-up employed by head coach Chris Bellotto this season, excluding the pitchers.
With PBA once again scoring several of their runs in the first inning, the Mocs could not answer. The Mocs went six unanswered innings before scoring four in the seventh inning.
After a single by senior Ziera Floodman, several walks and some hit batters, the Mocs found themselves trailing by only one run with two outs on the scoreboard. The team’s RBI leader, Jessica Trana stepped up to the plate and sent the ball screaming into right center field. The ball was tracked down by right fielder, Magnolia West. This out retired the side for the Mocs and gave the Sailfish their win of the series.
This series ranks the Mocs ninth in the Sunshine State Conference with a conference record of seven wins and 20 losses. The three-game series losses come just after the Moccasins dropped two games in a three-game series to conference opponents Saint Leo University earlier that week.
The Mocs will host a three-game series against another conference opponent, Florida Tech on April 18. The Panthers are ranked second in the conference. This will be the last conference series of the season before playing a non-conference doubleheader against West Florida on April 25.
