MELBOURNE – For the final time of 2021, the Florida Tech softball team took the field for a battle with the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish. The Panthers Despite the emotion-driven day, the Panthers fell in both games of the doubleheader, 8-3 and 9-5.
Tina Velazquez Rolon (4-3) and
Jordan Lawlis (4-8) took the circle for the final time in the Crimson & Gray. Velazquez Rolon got the start in the first game of the doubleheader and during her seven innings of work she allowed eight runs, seven earned, on 10 hits and garnered five strikeouts on 129 pitches. Lawlis was the game two starter and during her nine innings on the rubber, she surrendered nine runs, seven earned, on 10 hits and five "Ks".
The first game of the doubleheader started in a familiar way as neither team could get it going for the first few innings. This changed in the bottom of the third when
Mikayla Lewin singled and opened up the scoring as it got
Cheyenne Nelson home. A passed ball later in the inning gave Tech a 2-0 advantage as
Chloe French made it over home plate.
The 2-0 score held until the top of the fifth as the Sailfish took the lead as they rallied off five runs. Florida Tech trimmed the lead to 5-3 in the sixth as
Ashley Campbell recorded an RBI single to right-center field. However, the final runs of the game came in PBA's half of the seventh as a three-run homer made it an 8-3 ball, which is where it stayed as the Panthers dropped game one.
The second game of the day did not take long for its first run of the contest as Palm Beach Atlantic grabbed on in the top of the first inning. The Sailfish extended their lead in the second as they managed two more runs and made it a 3-0 game.
However, Tech cut it to 3-1 when Campbell hit a sacrifice bunt that made PBA hesitate for a moment and that was all
Whitney Ellis needed to score. Unfortunately, the Sailfish managed another run and made it a three-score game again.
Campbell once again helped cut it to a two-run contest in the fourth as she singled and got Velazquez Rolon over home plate and made it 4-2. The Panthers kept the momentum as they managed a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth that gave them their first lead of the game at 5-4.
Velazquez Rolon started the rally as she singled through the right side and that got pinch runner,
Peyton Anders, home from third. Next up was Campbell who laid down a bunt that gave Lewin just enough time to slide into home plate. The final run of the sixth came courtesy of a
Jolie Miracle sacrifice fly that was deep enough for Velazquez Rolon to trot home.
However, with one out left to close out the game a pair of Panther errors gave the Sailfish what they needed to tie it up at 5-5 and force a bottom of the seventh inning. Despite the bases being loading, Tech did not get a run across and the game went to extra innings.
The game stayed at 5-5 until four PBA runs safely crossed the plate and made it a 9-5, which held as Tech's rally failed as game two ended with a loss.
These games completed the Panthers' season as the team now turns their sights to their Spring 2022 campaign.
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