Posted: May 07, 2025
CLEARWATER, Fla- In the other four games of the FCSAA Championships on Tuesday and Wednesday, there were a total of eight runs scored. The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers made sure fans of offense weren't disappointed though, busting out the bats for a 21-0 win over Gulf Coast State in their opening round matchup, setting a new program postseason record and tying the program's all-time record by scoring 21 runs in the victory.
The scoring started early and often for the Bucs in this one as Nicole Edmiaston rifled an RBI single the other way in the bottom of the 1st to get FSW on the board and two batters later Megan Veilleux ripped a two run double to the gap to make it 3-0 Buccaneers. They weren't done yet as a sacrifice fly from Karolina Dvorakova padded the lead to 4-0 before Faith Wharton crushed a two run homer out to left to blow the lead open to 6-0. Kmari Williams walked to keep the inning going and Noelani Livingstone smacked a double through the left side in her second at bat of the inning to score her to give FSW a 7-0 lead at the end of one inning of play.
Bucs starting pitcher Lizzy Kwakernaak worked her second straight 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 2nd to get the Bucs right back at the plate and it was more of the same for the Purple and Aqua in their second cracks at it.
Veilleux picked up her second RBI knock in as many innings with a single up the middle and Dvorakova was hit by a pitch on the knee to force home another run and make it 9-0 FSW. Wharton continued her big game with a two run single cued down the right field line and Williams drove a run home with a ground out to make it 12-0 FSW at the end of two.
The Bucs didn't relent as Allegood padded the lead to 13-0 with an RBI single to left in the 3rd and a Gulf Coast error allowed a second to come home to make it 14-0. Veilleux drove in her fourth run of the game with a ground out to short and after three complete it was FSW leading Gulf Coast 15-0.
FSW cleared their bench in the 4th with the big lead, but the results were the same. Puk de Groot singled home a run with the bases loaded to make it 16-0 and Makayla Jakubuwski smacked a single back up the middle to score two more and make it 18-0 FSW. Brianice Silguero walked to force another run home and pitcher Marissa Wilkinson made sure she would be on top of the Bucs batting average list for the rest of the season with an RBI single in her lone at bat of the year to make it a 20-0 game. Dvorakova added another RBI single to tie the Bucs single game program record with 21 runs and reliever Leah Meyer came in and worked a 1-2-3 top of the 5th to finish things off and give the Bucs a 21-0 run rule win in five.
The Bucs finished with 13 hits and took advantage of 9 Gulf Coast walks in the contest. The bottom of the FSW order did the bulk of the damage as Veilleux and Wharton finished with 4 RBIs each while Dvorakova knocked in 3 more.
The offensive onslaught overshadowed a solid effort in the circle by FSW as Kwakernaak threw four shutout innings, allowing just one hit to pick up the win and improve to 14-2 on the year while Meyer closed things out with a clean 5th.
The 21 runs scored tied a program record and are the most runs FSW has ever scored in a postseason contest.
The win, the 11th straight for FSW, pushes the Bucs to the 50 win mark for the eighth time in nine seasons as FSW improves to 50-5 on the campaign. Gulf Coast drops to 28-24 and falls to the elimination bracket at the tournament.
The Bucs will be back in action Thursday night at 7 PM when they take on #6 Seminole State with a trip to the FCSAA Championship on the line.
