Posted: Apr 28, 2023
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Florida SouthWestern sophomore Feline Poot crushed her 50th career home run out of the park and drove in six runs as the Bucs swept the South Florida State Panthers 11-2 and 8-0 Friday afternoon on Sophomore Day at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.
After a pregame ceremony honoring the Bucs 10 sophomores playing their final games at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers on Friday, FSW wasted little time in taking control of game one, getting an RBI single from Sydney McCray followed by an RBI double from Laura Vigna to give the Bucs a quick 2-0 lead after one.
The Panthers threatened to get back into it in the 2nd as they loaded the bases with nobody out after a pair of FSW errors, but Belle Sardja came up big for the Bucs and worked out of the jam, keeping the Purple and Aqua in front 2-0.
The Bucs added to their lead in the 3rd as Shenita Tucker walked, stole second, and then scored on a pair of wild pitches to up FSW's lead to 3-0.
Sardja worked another scoreless frame in the 4th and the Bucs offense put the game out of reach in the bottom half as Jaden Goodwin, Tucker, and Carys Platt drove in runs to double their lead to 6-0.
A two run home run for the Panthers in the 6th kept the game alive for the time being, but after loading the bases on three walks the Bucs had just who they wanted at the plate in the bottom of the inning as Feline Poot crushed a grand slam way out to dead center in a defacto walk off as the dinger kicked in the run rule with FSW winning game one 11-2.
The Bucs needed just six hits to score their 11 runs as they took advantage of 10 walks from Panther pitching. Poot was 2-2 with a double, a homer, and four RBIs, the 50th home run of her storied FSW career. Sardja picked up her 20th win of the season, going 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits without walking a batter.
Game two followed a similar script as after a scoreless top of the 1st for South Florida State, the Bucs jumped in front with a pair of runs as McCray and Poot picked up RBIs to give FSW another quick 2-0 lead after one.
Kylee Graham worked her third straight 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd, getting three straight ground balls to D'Yani McKinley at third to keep it a 2-0 game before Platt singled her home in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-0 and Poot ripped her second double of the day to score Platt to make it a 4-0 contest at the end of three.
McKinley ripped a triple into the gap with two outs in the 4th and scored on a wild pitch to stretch the lead to 5-0 and Vigna and Sietske Drijvers drove home runs in the 5th to extend the lead to 7-0 in favor of FSW.
Lea Chevrier blistered through the Panthers order in the top of the 6th and the Bucs closed things out in the bottom half of the inning as McCray legged out a two out infield single before a South Florida State error allowed the Bucs to kick in the run rule in an 8-0 victory.
Graham and Chevrier combined on a one hit shutout, striking out seven without walking a batter as Graham earned the win and improved to 12-1 on the year while Chevrier picked up her fourth save of the season. Poot, Platt, and McCray had two hits each while McKinley was 1-2 and scored three times and Tucker was 1-3 with a pair of stolen bases to push her past the 50 mark for the second straight year.
FSW closes the regular season 46-5 while South Florida State drops to 19-32.
With the game two win, FSW Head Coach Robert Iamurri now has 400 career wins with the Bucs, posting an overall record of 400-48 (.893).
The Bucs will now turn their attention to the FCSAA State Tournament where they will open play on Friday, May 5th at 10 AM when they face a familiar postseason foe in the Pirates of Pensacola State in the first round.