Posted: Apr 22, 2021
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Going into Thursday's doubleheader with Hillsborough, the #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers hadn't lost a Suncoast Conference game since March 14th of 2019 and that didn't change on Thursday at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers as FSW blew past the visiting Hillsborough Hawks 12-5 and 7-1 in doubleheader action to improve to a perfect 17-0 in conference play on the year.
Hillsborough actually came out and punched the Bucs in the mouth right away, starting game one with a double on the first pitch of the contest to eventually lead to a run and then scoring three more in the 2nd to take a 4-0 lead on FSW before the infield dirt dried out from pregame preparations.
Chelsea Brown got FSW on the board with a solo home run in the 2nd, but it was still 4-1 Hawks after two complete innings of play.
A two run single from Lindsey Corbin got the Bucs back to within one early in the 3rd and a tomahawked single up the middle from Natavia Ellis scored her from second to knot the game at 4. Back to back errors for the Hawks allowed the Bucs to push in front 6-4 and with one out in the inning, a line drive to right from Janessa Plummer drove home a run to make it 7-4. After using her wheels earlier in the inning for a bunt single, Rebeca Laudino ripped a two run single to right later in the frame to extend the FSW lead to 9-4 after three.
Hillsborough got a solo home run with one out in the 5th to make it 9-5 game and it stayed that way until the Bucs came to hit in the bottom of the 6th.
A two run shot from Corbin quickly made it an 11-5 game and later in the inning a misplayed fly ball for the Hawks allowed another FSW run to score to make it a 12-5 contest.
Sarah Clontz came in out of the FSW bullpen and locked it down from there, working a 1-2-3 top of the 7th to close out a 12-5 win for the Bucs in game one.
Laudino led a 12 hit attack for the Bucs at the top of the order, going a perfect 4-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored while Corbin finished 2-4 with a homer and four RBIs. Alyssa O'Donnell improved to 17-1 on the year in the circle, going five innings and allowing eight hits and two earned runs before turning it over to Clontz for two perfect frames to close it out.
The Bucs didn't wait nearly as long to get things going in game two as Natavia Ellis launched a two run shot in the 1st and Plummer and Corbin ripped RBI singles in the 2nd to give FSW a 5-0 lead after two innings of action.
It remained a 3-0 game to the 5th when an error and a wild pitch allowed the Bucs to push two more across to make it a 7-0 game.
The Bucs had a chance to put the game on ice early in the 6th, but a baserunning blunder followed by a pop out to end the frame kept it a 7-0 game as the teams went to the 7th.
Hillsborough finally cracked the scoreboard with two outs in their final at bats of the game in the 7th, but they would get just a lone tally on an FSW error as Alyson Marcum finished them off for a 7-1 Buccaneer victory.
The Bucs outhit the Hawks 10-4 in the win. Ellis finished 2-3 with a homer and two runs scored while Owen Bowers was 2-2 with two runs scored and also reached twice via bases on balls. Emily Perrin earned the win in the circle to improve to 7-2 on the year. She went three shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out four. Marcum earned her first career save, going four innings of solid relief out of the bullpen to finish things off.
FSW has now won 19 in a row and captured 34 straight Suncoast Conference games dating back to March of 2019. The Bucs improve to 36-3 overall and 17-0 in league play with the wins while Hillsborough falls to 8-26 overall and 3-11 in league play.
The Bucs are scheduled to host St. Petersburg at City of Palms Park Friday at 1 PM in makeup games from Tuesday.
