ST. AUGUSTINE — Déjà vu.
For the second consecutive night, the Flagler College softball team left the Old Coast Classic in walk-off fashion. This time, it was
Kyleigh Taylor belting the two-out, first-pitch home run to send the Saints past Nova Southeastern University, 7-5, as midnight struck to pair with a 6-4 victory over Newberry College in the game before.
The win marks the Saints' fourth straight win as they head into the final day of the tournament Sunday with another matchup with Newberry at 3 p.m.
In the final inning versus the Wolves (6-2) in game one, rain began to fall as
Rachel Hester secured her first career save to pair with
Madelyn Wise's first win of the day in the circle. The junior-freshman pitching duo was backed up by its offense that spotted a four-run third inning to give the home team the lead it needed to stay ahead for good.
Alyssa Velez's sac fly in the first inning — scoring
Valerie Beltre who drew a leadoff walk — plated the first run, and then the senior shortstop dove in
Madelyn Childs after a two-out double. After that, Taylor drew a walk and
Mercedes Salinas crushed her first homer this season to clear the bases for a 5-0 lead.
Newberry cut into the lead over the next four innings, but an extra insurance run from Velez — on a single from
Olivia Parker — scored the final run. In all, Velez led the Saints with two hits and runs scored, while
Kyleigh Taylor drew three walks and Salinas had a team-high three RBI.
It was quite the evening for Taylor as she took her three-walk first game and added two hits, two runs scored and five RBI to her Saturday total. The senior was lights out as a solo blast in the second began a three-run frame that
Lucy Giebeig added onto it with a two-run double, scoring Salinas and Velez.
NSU (5-3) matched the three-run inning with its own in the third, along with runs in the fifth and seventh each, but the Saints never lost hope. Wise replaced
Taylor Scott in the circle — after a handful of defensive errors dampened the lead — to keep things controllable.
And that's what the Saints did down to the final out. With the bases juiced — by
Alex Vitola (pinch-hit walk),
Trinity Fry (reached by error) and
Paige Maseda (single) — Flagler took Emily Hess (L, 2-2) deep and never looked back for its second straight night cap walk-off.
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