MELBOURNE, Fla. - Capping off Week 9 of the 2018 season, Florida Tech (23-18, 7-11 SSC) split the twin bill against Rollins (22-17, 8-10 SSC) on Saturday afternoon at the Nancy Bottge Field. After narrowly dropping a 4-3 decision in Game 1, a late offensive rally and a solid pitching performance captured the 7-0 win for the Panthers in Game 2.
In the circle,
Melanie Murphy (11-7) showed yet another dominating performance over a seven-inning pitching stand that held the Tars scoreless for a .174 batting average. Additionally, the Melbourne product racked up four strikeouts for a 0.00 game ERA, making it her fifth personal shutout of the 2018 campaign. After this afternoon's performance, Murphy continues to lead the conference with an impressive 1.09 cumulative ERA and now moves into the seventh spot for total strikeouts with 69.
At the plate, veteran
Jessica Callahan led the Crimson and Gray offense with a .500 batting average, as the FIT slugger amassed three hits in six appearances at the plate. The Kissimmee native also recorded a team-high three RBI in the weekend outing and collected her sixth double of the year.
Aiding the Panthers total, sophomores
Ally Carver and
Vanessa Rubio batted in two RBI apiece, while
Alexus Smith and
Mikayla Wessel notched one each.
As a team, Florida Tech counted 14 hits for a .286 team batting average and .400 on-base percentage.
In Game 1, Florida Tech struck in the bottom of the first, where Rubio drove in
Makayla Palmer to put the Panthers ahead, 1-0. However, Rollins quickly rallied back in the top of the third, where the Tars drove in three runs to overlap FIT, 3-1.
In the bottom half of the third, the Crimson and Gray lineup tied things up with bases loaded. The sequence began when Rubio hit a sac-fly to the deep left center to score Wessel, which was then followed by a stolen base by Callahan to make the score even, 3-3.
As the fourth went by blank, Rollins broke the balance in the fifth, where a muffed play by the Panthers defense allowed the Tars runner to cross home plate safe, 4-3. From there, FIT struggled to move its runners around and eventually fell to Rollins, 4-3.
Forwarding to Game 2, Florida Tech struck first in the bottom of the third, as Wessel singled through the left side to allow
Shanysse Emerenciana to reach home, putting the Panthers in the lead, 1-0. Following up, Callahan delivered a flawless bunt that drove in
Xiarysse Emerenciana to enlarge the FIT stretch, 2-0.
In fourth, the Panthers tempo remained unfazed, as
Shanysse Emerenciana and Callahan joined forces to clutch three more runs, 5-0. After a scoreless fifth inning, the Melbourne squad struck once more in the bottom of the sixth, when Carver flared a single to the right-center to push across two more runs for Florida Tech, 7-0.
In the final frame, the Panthers defense quickly dismissed the Rollins lineup to wrap up its 23rd win, 7-0.
Next, Florida Tech will travel south to face the Nova Southeastern Sharks for an SSC series that starts on Friday, Apr. 6 at 6 p.m. ET.
For more info, please visit FloridaTechSports.com!
