Tallahassee falls into loser’s bracket at FCSAA Tournament

PENSACOLA, Fla. (May 3, 2014) – Day one of the FCSAA Softball Tournament, once again, provided its share of surprises. 

In the first session of the day, FCSAA No. 2 Indian River State College was upset by Seminole State College in the Atlantic District side of the event. FCSAA No. 1/NJCAA No. 5 Tallahassee Community College suffered a similar fate, dropping a surprising 5-2 decision to Hillsborough Community College. 

Later on Saturday, Tallahassee kept its season alive with a 3-1 victory over State College of Florida in an elimination game to advance to loser's bracket play on Sunday. 

Three of the Panhandle Conference's four representatives lost its opening round game. Only Chipola College escaped with a victory while Northwest Florida State College was eliminated by Gulf Coast State College in Saturday's evening session. 

In Saturday's opener, a two-out error extended Tallahassee's first at-bat and the Eagles took advantage. With Te Reo Powhiri Matautia on third, Alexis Huss singled her home for a 1-0 lead. 

Starting pitcher Ashley Dobson was cruising until she allowed a game-tying homer with two outs in the fourth, and the game remained 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth when the Eagles pushed across the go-ahead run on a sacrifice-fly. 

But Hillsborough put together a big inning and tagged Dobson for four runs in the top of the seventh and the eventual 5-2 victory. 

The loss placed Tallahassee into the loser's bracket and an elimination contest against State College of Florida. 

Pitching was the story in game two as the teams took a scoreless tie to the sixth. Then, both teams plated two-out runs to leave the game knotted at 1-all. 

Tallahassee scored its run when Marina Cobbs beat out an infield single to bring home Shelby Manns from third. 

Game two starter and winning pitcher Mariah Rivera appeared to have the Eagles out of trouble in the bottom of the sixth but Matautia mishandled a shallow fly ball down the left field line, which allowed the tying run to come home. 

With its season on the line, Tallahassee came through in its final at-bat. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Huss doubled off the right field fence to score two runs and give the Eagles a 3-1 lead. 

State College of Florida brought the winning run to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but Rivera pitched the Eagles out of trouble and into a 1 p.m. eastern date against St. Petersburg College on Sunday. 

Tallahassee has to win three games on Sunday to move into Monday's championship round.