FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers were challenged for the first time in nearly a month Saturday afternoon at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers, splitting a doubleheader with the #15 Indian River Pioneers, coming from behind to take game one 9-7 before watching the Pioneers return the favor with a pair of 7^th inning runs to snatch game two 7-6.

 

Things got off to a bit of an inauspicious start for the Bucs in the 1^st as the first five Indian River hitters reached to begin the game, three of them scoring to quickly take a 3-0 lead on FSW. The Pioneers tacked on two more before all was said and done, taking a 5-0 lead before the Bucs got their first at bats of the day. 

 

After batting around in the first, it looked like it was going to be more of the same for the Pioneers in the 2^nd as they loaded the bases with nobody out, but a strikeout and a pair of groundouts ended the threat, keeping it a 5-0 game. 

 

A pair of hit batters got the Bucs going to begin the bottom of the 2^nd and after a sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position, another bean ball loaded the bases with one out.  A bullet back up the middle from Laura Vigna drove home a run and got the Bucs on the board and later in the frame a single from Feline Poot and a double down the line from Taylor Jensen evened things up at 5.  

 

Things settled down from there as FSW's Baylee Haggard put up three straight zeros in the circle, but the Pioneers matched the goose eggs as the game quickly moved to the 6^th still deadlocked at 5. 

 

Indian River came out swinging in the 6th , putting together four hits and a sac fly to push across a pair of runs to retake the lead at 7-5. 

 

The bottom of the Bucs lineup set the table in the bottom of the 6th, putting the tying runs on base with nobody out in the frame before a hard ground ball from Vigna loaded the sacks up.  It was time for FSW Head Coach Robert Iamurri to pull out his not so secret weapon as he called upon pinch hitter Chelsea Brown who drilled a double to center to clear the bases and put the Bucs back in front 8-7. Later in the frame Poot moved Shenita Tucker over to third with a ground ball and Jensen drove her home with a sac fly to add an insurance run and make it 9-7 after six. 

 

The Bucs closed it out in the 7th, but not without some drama.  Indian River put two on with two out before a line drive back up the middle found the knee of Haggard to load the bases and end the day for the Bucs hurler.  Called on in emergency duty, Belle Sardja came in and got the final hitter of the game to ground out, sealing up a 9-7 win for FSW. 

 

Indian River actually outhit the Bucs 14-11 in the game and FSW made three defensive miscues to the Pioneers two.  Vigna and Poot had three hits apiece with Vigna scoring twice and Poot driving home two.  Jensen finished 1-2 with three RBIs while Brown was 1-1 with the three run game winning double in the 6th. Haggard picked up a hard fought win in the circle, going 6 2/3 innings and allowing four earned runs to improve to 11-0 on the year.  Sardja picked up a three pitch save, her second of the year, retiring the only hitter she faced in the contest. 

 

 

In game two it was the Bucs loading the bases with nobody out in their first chance at bat. A bases loaded walk to Jensen forced home a run and a single back up the middle off the bat of McKenzie Wittenberg made it a 3-0 game in favor of the Bucs after one. 

 

Three straight hits for the Pioneers in the 2^nd got a run back for the visitors and after a walk loaded the bases, a groundout allowed a run to score to cut the Bucs lead to 3-2. 

 

An RBI double just inside the third base line from Tucker got one of the runs back, pushing the Bucs lead back to two at 4-2 at the end of two. 

 

Indian River got a tally in the 3^rd to make it a 4-3 game and then added two more in the 4^th to take a 5-4 lead on the Bucs. 

 

The Bucs answered in the 5^th as Charlotte Drijvers drilled a line drive to right center to plate a pair and put the Bucs back in front 6-5. 

 

It remained a 6-5 game in favor of FSW to the 7^th when back to back walks to begin the top of the inning gave the Pioneers a glimmer of hope and down to their final out in the game, Indian River came through with a two out single to left to score a pair of runs and take the lead back 7-6. 

 

The Bucs 7^th got off to a promising start as Brown and Drijvers both ripped singles to start the frame.  With two on and no out, Iamurri put the bunt play on to try to move the runners into scoring position, but the Bucs were unable to execute and a pop up failed to advance them and chalked the first out up on the board. A ground ball to third did move the runners, but also gave the Pioneers the second out of the inning. Then an interesting sequence occurred as Indian River wanted to intentionally walk Vigna with first base open, but unlike college baseball, in college softball you have to throw the four pitch walk and after the first pitch went to plan and was wide of the zone, the second clipped the outside corner to level the count at 1-1.  On the third pitch of the at bat, Vigna thought the ball was going to catch the plate again and drove a fly ball out to left, but it didn't have enough mustard on it and ended up in the glove of the the Pioneers to end the game with Indian River hanging on to win 7-6. 

 

After Indian River outhit FSW in the Bucs game one win, in game to it was the Bucs outhitting the Pioneers 10-7 in the Indian River win. Drijvers and Wittenberg each had a pair of hits and two RBIs to lead the Bucs in the defeat while Tucker, Poot, and Brown all had two hits and scored a run. Brooke Geiger suffered the loss in the circle, allowing one run on one hit in the 7^th to fall to 1-1 on the year. 

 

 

FSW sees their 15 game win streak come to an end with the split as they move to 21-2 overall on the season while Indian River picks up their best win of the year to improve to 11-9.  

 

The Bucs wrap up a six game homestand on Wednesday when they host Miami Dade in doubleheader action beginning at 3 PM at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers.