MELBOURNE, Fla. – After two-straight sweeps in two days, the Panthers wanted to make it three in tas many days as they welcomed Georgian Court to Nancy Bottge Field for a doubleheader. Florida Tech may not have got another sweep but they did split the games as they lost game one, 2-5 and won the second, 6-5.
Tina Velazquez Rolon had a great day at the plate as she went 4-7 with one run and three RBI.
Cheyenne Nelson, Tori Szrom and
Vanessa Rubio were the other members of Florida Tech that tallied multiple hits.
Mikayla Wessel,
Peyton Anders and Nelson each recorded two runs.
Jordan Lawlis recorded her third complete game of the season as she went seven innings and surrendered five runs, two earned, on nine hits and struck out three. Velazquez Rolon also tossed a complete game as she picked up the win to move to 9-4. During her seven innings, she allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits and had an impressive eight strikeouts.
Unlike the previous two days, Florida Tech got off to a slow start in game one as they allowed the Lions to score two in the first. The Crimson & Gray's fielding did tighten up after the first but the women struggled at the plate, as they did not get their first hit until the fourth. Later in the fourth, a Lions throwing error allowed Wessel to score the team's first run.
Unfortunately, GCU got hot again as they scored three more runs to make it 1-5. The Panther did attempt to make a comeback in the seventh, as the team strung together a few hits, highlighted by Carver's single down the right-field line that got Anders home safe. However, this was the last Tech run to score as they lost, 2-5.
Game two started in a similar fashion as the first as Georgian Court had two runs score in the first, this time due to a home run and another Lions' run in the top of the third made it 3-0. The Panthers cut it to a two-run deficit when Velazquez Rolon doubled through the left side, which gave Nelson plenty of time to make it home. Georgian Court made it a three-run game again in the top of the fourth.
The Panthers then began to make a comeback as their bats came alive in the final three innings. Rubio got it going in the fifth as she singled up the middle and this got Nelson across the plate for the second time in the game. In the sixth, Szrom hit a moon shot over the left-center field fence and brought the tally to 3-4.
A potential setback helped in the top of the seventh when a Lions' single scored a run and made it, 3-5. So like the previous two days, it was up to a late-game rally to grab the win. A two-run Velazquez Rolon homer brought it back even at 5-5 and later in the inning Szrom hit a single up the middle that scored Anders. This give Tech another walkoff win as the game ended, 6-5.
Florida Tech will get a few days of rest before they get back to work Wednesday, March 11, when they welcome Southern New Hampshire to Nancy Bottge Field for a doubleheader that will begin at 1 p.m. ET.
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