ST. AUGUSTINE – Flagler College and Francis Marion University split a Peach Belt Conference softball doubleheader Saturday (April 11) afternoon at Flagler Field. The Saints won the opener 5-4, but the Patriots rallied to take the second game, 13-11.
Flagler is now 12-31 overall and 3-13 in the Peach Belt. Francis Marion leaves with a 21-19 overall record and 7-11 in conference play.
In the opener, the Saints scored all of its runs in the third inning, and they would need all of them for the win.
Rachel Hudson and
Lauren Roudabush led off the inning with a pair of singles.
Tori Volz, looking to sacrifice the runners over one base, actually laid down a bunt that was so good, just in front of the plate, that she beat the throw to load the bases.
Mackenzie Conley reached on an infield single which scored the first run of the game. Two batters later,
Malloree Escue belted a grand slam to left-center to give Flagler a 5-0 lead.
The Patriots made their bid for a comeback in the top of the fourth. Katie Carnes singled to center to lead off the inning. Shelby Mathews hit a sharp grounder to Flagler third baseman
Hannah Hudson who then threw to second base for the force out. The throw sailed into right-center field which allowed Carnes to come around and score and Mathews took third. She scored on a wild pitch. Shelby Kelley drew a walk and the Madison Lowe-Gardner followed with a single to bring up the game-tying run in Tori Gaskins. TJ Fain came in to run for Lowe-Gardner at first base. Gaskins socked a 0-1 pitch over the right field fence to tie the game at 5-all. But when she hit the ball, Fain went back to the bag to tag up, thinking the Flagler right fielder had a chance to catch the ball. Gaskins wound up accidentally running into her on first base and passed her negating her home run. Both runs were allowed, but the tying run could not score.
Flagler reliever
Mallory Allen (1-1) came in one batter later and shut down the Patriots. She tossed 3.2 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits. Allen retired eight of the last nine batters she faced.
Escue went 2-for-4 with a double and a grand slam.
Carnes (7-4) allowed seven hits and five runs in six innings of work for Francis Marion. She recorded four strikeouts.
Mikala Barnhart went 2-for-4 with a double.
Flagler took control of the second game early, jumping out to a 7-1 lead after three innings.
A run scoring on a ground out and an Escue double accounted for Flagler's first two runs in the first inning. The Saints added three more runs in the second with two of those coming on a
Tori Volz double.
Kayla Fuller added a run-scoring single in the third, one of two Flagler runs in that frame.
The Patriots added two runs in the fourth and one more in the sixth to draw closer, 7-4.
An RBI single by
Maddy Murphy and a sacrifice fly gave the Saints a 9-4 lead going into the top of the seventh.
The Patriots sent 15 batters to the plate, scored nine runs on eight hits and there was one costly Flagler error. Prior to the seventh, the Saints had committed seven errors, but only one of those led to an unearned run.
Saints reliever, Allen, retired the first batter of the seventh. The rally started when Gaskins and Sharee Blomquist, the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters in the line-up, hit back-to-back doubles.
Haleigh Corbally, the starter in the first game, replaced Allen as the third pitcher of the day. Briana Brazola singled to left to put runners on the corners and then Barnhart hit a grounder to Escue at shortstop, but she had difficulty in fielder the grounder allowing another to score and Francis Marion trailed 9-6. Shannan Lopez doubled off the centerfield wall which drove in Barzola from second base. A ground out allowed another run to score and the Patriots trailed 9-8 with two outs and the tying run at third in Lopez. Mathews hit a flare just behind first base that was just out of the reach of Volz, Flagler's second baseman, and the ball kicked into foul territory allowing Mathews to cruise into second base.
Flagler's third pitcher of the inning, and fourth of the game,
Tinsley Smith, came in to try and get the final out and keep the score tied. She allowed a single to Kaitlin Munda to put runners on the corners and then Lowe-Gardner belted a double to right-center clearing the bases and giving the Patriots an 11-9 lead. Lowe-Gardner moved to third on a wild pitch and Gaskins drew a walk. Blomquist also walked to load the bases. An infielder single and a hit batter allowed the next two runs to score and the Patriots held a 13-9 lead.
Conley and Murphy added RBI singles in the bottom half of the seventh, but that's all Flagler could muster in the home half.
Munda (9-9) picked up the win in relief after tossing 5.1 innings. She allowed 10 hits and four earned runs. Carnes, who faced two batters in the seventh, earned her first save of the year.
Barzola collected four singles with three runs scored and two runs batted in to lead the 16-hit attack by the Patriots. Lopez went 2-for-6 with a double, two RBI and a run scored. Mathews singled, doubled, knocked in two runs and scored a run. Lowe-Gardner went 2-for-5 with a double, two RBI and a runs scored while Gaskins went 2-for-3 with a double and she scored two runs. Blomquist singled, doubled, scored a run and knocked in another.
Corbally (6-9) took the loss in the circle in relief. She tossed one-third of an inning, allowed three hits and four unearned runs.
The Saints pounded out a season-high 18 hits and was led by Volz who went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI and scored two runs while Fuller collected three singles, scored a run and knocked in another.
Escue hit two doubles, drove in two runs and scored another. Roudabush collected two singles and scored two runs while Murphy singled twice and drove in three runs.
Hannah Hudson singled twice while
Rachel Hudson went 2-for-4 with a double, one RBI and she scored two runs.
Flagler hosts the University of North Carolina Pembroke tomorrow (April 12) at 11 a.m. at Flagler Field on "Senior Day."
