MEBLOURNE, Fla. (Softball) - FIT starts off with 9-1 victory over the visiting East Stroudsburg Warriors in the first game of the Marriott Brawl at the Beach. The Panthers now advance to 8-3 overall while marking their fourth win at Nancy Bottge Field.
Leading performances for the Panthers consisted of
Alexus Smith,
Hailey Leonard, and
Karina Suicava. Smith went 3-for-3 with three RBI's off a double right center and a single up the middle while recording two put outs defensively. Leonard posted a 3-for-1 effort with two RBI's off a bomb to left field and seven put outs while Suicava registered a two run RBI double with two put outs on defense. In the circle,
Amanda Kahn grabbed her second win of the season pitching a complete game with only one walk, five hits, and one run on 23 batters faced over six innings. On the day, Kahn finished with 43 strikes out of 63 total pitches
After three Warrior outs at the top of the first, FIT reached the the scoreboard at the bottom on the inning on a fielders choice to shortstop followed by throwing error by that scored both Leonard and Smith. Up by two runs, both teams stayed stale until the fifth inning.
During the top of the fifth the Warriors reached the board on an RBI single to right center with only one out and two runners on base. The inning ended after two consecutive outs off a pop up to second and ground ball to the pitcher. Headed to the bottom the Panthers blew the score open by generating four runs on three hits. Both Smith and Leonard racked up two RBI's, one which came off a double deep to right center while the other came off a homer to the palm trees in left field.
In the final inning, the Panthers held the Warriors scoreless and put three additional runs on the board to cap the win. The contributing efforts from Suicava and Smith forced the mercy rule to end the game in the sixth.
Florida Tech returns to the action tomorrow afternoon for a matchup against Stonehill University. The first pitch is set for 3 p.m. ET at Nancy Bottge Field. Fans, tune in to https://portal.stretchinternet.com/fit/ to catch the action during the second day of The Marriott Brawl at the Beach!
