Posted: May 20, 2025
YUMA, Ariz.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers found themselves in an unfamiliar position Tuesday afternoon in their opening game of the 2025 NJCAA World Series, in fact a position that they haven't been in at any point in time during the 2025 season. The Bucs fell behind #24 Crowder 5-0 right away and eventually faced a 7-0 deficit in the 4th inning, their biggest hole of the season, before roaring back with 11 runs in the final three innings to win 11-8 and avoid the upset.
It was a forgettable start for the Bucs who saw Crowder come out with their hair on fire, scoring just two hitters into the game before loading the bases ahead of a grand slam to put the Roughriders up 5-0 before FSW recorded their first out of the ballgame.
The Bucs looked like they were going to answer right back as they put their first two hitters of the bottom of the 1st on base, but a ground out and two pop outs later, they were out of business as Crowder headed to the 2nd with a 5-0 lead.
FSW reliever Lizzy Kwakernaak retired the Roughriders in order in the 2nd and 3rd , but the Bucs offense couldn't get anything going and it remained a 5-0 game into the 4th.
Crowder was back on the offensive in the 4th as they loaded the bases for the second time in the game and once again cashed in a pair of runs to open their lead to 7-0 before back to back strikeouts by Kwakernaak limited it to just two and kept the run rule out of play at the game reached the midway point.
The Bucs finally broke through in the 4th as they rallied with two outs, getting a three run home run from Faith Wharton to end the shutout before Kmari Williams made it back to back with an inside the park home run to the gap to trim the Crowder lead to 7-4. Noelani Livingstone kept the line moving, singling up the middle and stealing second base before scoring on a single from Skylar Brennan to cut the Roughrider lead to 7-5.
Crowder tried to answer in their next trip to the plate, putting two on with one out in the 5th, but Kwakernaak again dialed up two straight strikeouts to end the threat and the frame to keep it a 7-5 ballgame.
In the 6th it was the opposite for the Roughriders as Kwakernaak picked up back to back strikeouts to start the inning before Crowder mounted a rally with three straight two out hits to pad their lead to 8-5.
With their backs to the wall and down to their final six outs of the game, the Bucs stayed the course, getting three straight singles in the bottom of the 6th to load the bases with nobody out before an RBI groundout from Brennan and a two run single to right from Virginia Mambelli tied the score at 8. Two batters later Emily Allegood gave the Bucs their first lead of the game with an RBI single to left and she scored on a Megan Veilleux single to make it 10-8 FSW. The Bucs kept it rolling and reloaded the bases before a wild pitch allowed an insurance run to score to make it 11-8 at the end of six.
After two quick outs in the top of the 7th the Roughriders put a runner on base and brought the tying run to the on deck circle, but Karolina Dvorakova made a diving play in the hole to record the 21st out of the game to close out an 11-8 come from behind win for the Bucs.
The Bucs banged out 14 hits in the win including 3-3 efforts from both Wharton and Livingstone. Wharton homered and drove in three while Livingstone stole a base and scored twice for FSW. Brennan and Mambelli drove in two each while Allegood and Williams each finished with two hits and drove in a run. Kwakernaak went 6 2/3 innings in relief to earn the win, improving to 16-2 on the year while yielding eight hits and three runs and tying a career high with nine strikeouts.
The Bucs win their 14th straight game to improve to 53-5 on the year while Crowder falls to 44-22.
FSW advances to the third round of the winner's bracket where they will square off against #16 Butler on Wednesday at 1:30 PM (MT).