Pallas Potter (Photo by Roy Allen)
Posted: Feb 04, 2020
FORT MYERS, Fla.- In both ends of their doubleheader Tuesday night at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers, it took the #2 Florida SouthWestern State Softball team a little bit of time to get going. But once they did get going, they couldn't be stopped as the Bucs put together a sweep of the visiting Broward Seahawks, with scores of 13-0 and 9-1 to improve to 3-0 on the young season.
The Bucs had chances early in game one, but were unable to capitalize in their first couple of scoring opportunities. In the bottom of the 1st, they put two on with nobody out, but a baserunning blunder followed by a pair of pop outs killed the threat and kept them off the board. They put two more on in the 2nd, but again, a pop out and a groundout left the runners stranded and the game tied at 0 after two.
FSW finally broke through in the 3rd as Rebeca Laudino singled and then stole second before Pallas Potter started her big day with a single up the box to score her and make it a 1-0 game. Later in the inning, Natavia Ellis blasted off on the Bucs first home run of the year over the left field wall for a three run shot to open up a 4-0 lead for the home team. They weren't done there, getting an RBI single from Janessa Plummer to add to the lead and then finally a bullet triple off the right center field wall from Laudino to blow the game open to 7-0 after three.
With momentum on their side, the Bucs worked a quick top half of the 4th inning behind pitcher Haley Ellefson to keep it a 7-0 game.
Potter led off the FSW 4th with her first homer of the year, a moonshot to left to make it 8-0 Bucs. Three straight singles plated two more for the Bucs and they would eventually end up putting up six in the frame to open it up to a 13-0 contest.
Alyssa O'Donnell came out of the Bucs bullpen to finish it off in the 5th, thanks in part to a nifty double play from Lindsey Corbin and Alex Hare to end it with the Bucs running away with a 13-0 run rule win.
The Bucs pounded out 12 hits in the win, with nine different players getting in on the action. Potter finished 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored to lead the way for FSW while Ellis drove in 3 with her 3rd inning shot and Laudino picked up 2 hits atop the Bucs' order. Ellefson earned the win in the circle, going 4 innings, allowing just 2 hits, both singles, while punching out 4 to improve to 2-0 on the year. The Bucs only chink in the armor in game one was their defense, which committed 4 errors, their most in a game since March 27, 2018 against St. Petersburg.
After starting pitcher Emily Perrin worked a 1-2-3 top half of the 1st in game two, the Bucs rewarded their righthander with a quick run on an RBI single from Ellis in the bottom of the inning to take a 1-0 lead after one.
Perrin struck out the side after a leadoff walk in the 2nd and worked another scoreless frame with a pair of punchouts in the 3rd to keep it a 1-0 contest.
After displaying her power in game one of the twinbill, Potter used small ball to reach base and eventually score in game two, coming home on a sacrifice fly from Ellis in he bottom of the 3rd to make it 2-0 Bucs.
Perrin held the Seahawks scoreless through five and the Bucs offense finally came alive in the bottom half of the 5th to cushion their lead.
Again, it was the Bucs putting up a crooked number with two outs in an inning in the 5th as a Broward error allowed them an extra out in the frame and they took advantage with RBI singles from Taylor Jensen and Plummer to stretch their lead to 5-0.
An FSW error helped Broward score their first run of the day in the top of the 6th, but the Bucs got that back and more in the bottom half of the inning.
After Laudino legged out a bunt single, Potter just missed her second home run of the day, tripling off the top of the wall to score her and make it a 6-1 game. She came home on an RBI single from Ellis to make it 7-1 and a bases loaded walk later in the inning pushed the lead to 8-1 and brought the game winning run 60 feet from home plate with Alex Hare at the plate. After falling behind in the count 0-2, Hare ripped a line shot to the gap in right center, bringing Alyssa LoSauro home from third and giving the Bucs a modified walk off with the run rule kicking in with the eight run lead.
Again it was all FSW with the Bucs outhitting the Seahawks 12-4 in the game. The middle of the FSW order did the bulk of the damage as Potter and Ellis combined to go 5-7 with 4 RBIs and 3 runs scored in the win. Jensen and Hare each collected a pair of hits and an RBI at the bottom of the Bucs lineup. Perrin earns her first collegiate win, going 5 shutout innings and allowing just 2 hits while striking out 8 on 76 pitches for the Bucs.
The Bucs improve to 3-0 with the sweep while Broward falls to 0-4.
The competition will ramp up for FSW this weekend as the Bucs travel to Dothan, Alabama to take part in the VisitDothan.com tournament hosted by Chipola. Friday afternoon the Bucs will battle #5 Salt Lake and Saturday they will see #14 Chattanooga State and #19 Southern Idaho before returning to Fort Myers.
