ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The bats came alive in the sixth inning for Flagler College, recording five runs in the frame to avoid the Peach Belt Conference series sweep as the Saints left Flagler Field with a 6-3 win over Georgia Southwestern State University Sunday afternoon.
Flagler reaches the 20-win mark, improving to 20-18 and 6-9 in the PBC. GSW moves to 24-16 overall and 9-6 in conference play.
Flagler entered the bottom of the sixth facing a 3-1 deficit. Hurricanes' Katelyn Wood singled in a run in the first, and then the team's traded solo home runs in the second inning with
Olivia Parker answering Isabel Marco's in the bottom half. Wood went deep to left field to lead off the top half of the sixth to give the away team a cushion.
Kyleigh Taylor cut back into the lead and got the offense going with her 13th long ball of the year, blasting a solo shot to left field to come within a run. The home run places Taylor in a two-way tie for the most single-season home runs in program history. Parker was next to the plate, who drew a full-count walk, followed by a
Gianna Amundsen single to move Parker over to second.
The bases were loaded thanks to a Hurricane fielding error to get
Trinity Fry on first.
Valerie Beltre proceeded to tie the game by beating the throw to first from the Hurricanes' third basemen to bring home
Anna Dumovich, who pinch ran for Parker earlier in the inning.
With the game-winning run standing 60 feet away from
Courtney Robinson, she hit a ground ball up the middle, splitting the middle infielders to bring home Amundsen and Fry to give the Saints a 5-3 edge. Robinson led the Saints' nine-hit day with a perfect 3-for-3 outing at the plate, while Beltre had two hits and Maseda, Taylor, Parker and Amundsen all had one.
Paige Maseda added an insurance run, 6-3, with a single to bring Beltre home. In all, the Saints faced four different pitchers with the rally being finished versus Hannah Holloway (L, 11-6) and Zoe Willis.
Rachel Hester (W, 10-7) retired the Hurricanes in order in the top of seventh to secure the complete-game victory for her 10th win in her debut season in a Flagler uniform.
Flagler now turns its attention to a midweek doubleheader at Saint Leo University on Wednesday, April 13th, with game one set to get underway at 3 p.m. at University Softball Stadium.
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