Bucs Outscore Sharks 24-1 in Doubleheader Sweep

Haley Ellefson (Photo by Roy Allen)
Haley Ellefson (Photo by Roy Allen)
KENDALL, Fla.- The #3 Florida SouthWestern Softball team dominated Miami Dade in doubleheader action Tuesday afternoon, outscoring the Sharks 24-1 in a pair of run rule contests to sweep the doubleheader in the two teams first meetings of the year. 
 
It didn't take the Bucs long to get going in game one as Natavia Ellis and Feline Poot smacked back to back two out doubles in the top half of the 1st to give FSW a 1-0 lead before the chalk even dried on the foul lines.  
 
They added to their lead in the 2nd as Pallas Potter walked to start the frame and used her wheels with a stolen base to get into scoring position before Kayla Domon singled her home up the middle to make it 2-0. With the bases loaded later in the inning, a walk to Ellis pushed Domon home, giving FSW a 3-0 lead after two.  
 
The Bucs were back at it in the 3rd as Charlotte Drijvers lifted a sacrifice fly to center to bring home Potter who was hit earlier in the inning, followed by an RBI single from Janessa Plummer to push the FSW advantage to 5-0. 
 
FSW starter Haley Ellefson worked around a one out triple in the bottom of the 3rd to keep Miami Dade off the board and the Bucs added two more in the top half of the 4th on Potter's second home run of the year to make it 7-0. 
 
The Bucs blew the game wide open in the 5th, sending 13 hitters to the plate and scoring eight times to take a 15-0 lead. The inning was highlighted by three straight RBI singles from Alyssa LoSauro, Alex Hare, and Taylor Jensen, followed by three straight appearances at the plate by FSW pitchers, which resulted in runs driven home by Sarah Clontz and Savanna Reiners to put the game away.  
 
Alyssa O'Donnell came out of the FSW bullpen in the bottom of the 5th and finished things off for Ellefson as the game came to a close in a 15-0 Bucs run rule.  
 
The Bucs banged out 14 hits to Miami Dade's 1 in the win.  11 different players had a hit for FSW and 14 different players had an RBI in the win. Ellis, Domon, and Drijvers had 2 hits and an RBI each while Potter scored three times and drove in a pair.  Ellefson was the benefactor of the offensive explosion, but she didn't need it, allowing just 1 hit in 4 shutout innings, striking out 4 to improve to 4-1 on the year.  
 
 
It was more of the same in game two as FSW wasted no time in putting up a pair of 1st inning runs on RBIs from Ellis and Poot to take a quick 2-0 lead.  
 
The Bucs continued to pour it on in the 2nd as Lindsey Corbin ripped an RBI single followed by a run scoring double from Poot and a line drive RBI single from Owen Bowers to make it 5-0. 
 
The Sharks scored their lone run of the day with a two out double in the bottom of the 2nd to make it 5-1 and it remained that way until the 5th. 
 
Bowers tripled with one out in the FSW 5th and scored on an RBI single from Jensen to push the Bucs lead back to five at 6-1.  
 
The meat of the FSW order put the game away in the 6th as Corbin, Poot, and Bowers had back to back to back run scoring hits, opening up a 9-1 advantage for the Bucs. 
 
Emily Perrin put up a goose egg for the Bucs in the 6th and as it was in game one, game two came to a shortened end due to the run rule with the Bucs winning 9-1.  
 
As they did in game one, FSW outhit the Sharks 14-1 again in game two.  Five different players recorded multi-hit games for the Bucs including Bowers who finished a perfect 4-4 and was just a homer shy of the cycle, and Poot who was 3-4 with a pair of doubles and 3 RBIs.  Clontz earned the win in the circle to improve to 3-0 on the year, allowing 1 hit and 1 run in 3 innings of work, while Perrin notched her first collegiate save with 3 hitless innings and 5 strikeouts out of the FSW pen.  
 
 
The sweep moves FSW to 8-1 on the year while Miami Dade drops to 4-7. 
 
The Bucs will have seven days before their next contests when they travel back to the Miami area to take on ASA Miami in a doubleheader on February 18th.