TCC Softball wins three, advances to the region championship game

PENSACOLA, Fla. (May 4, 2014) – Top-ranked Tallahassee Community College will play for the region championship on Monday after winning its way through the loser's bracket at the NJCAA Region 8B/FCSAA Gulf District Tournament with Sunday wins over St. Petersburg College, Gulf Coast State College and Chipola College. 

FCSAA No. 1/NJCAA No. 5 Tallahassee will play No. 3/No. 10 Polk State College, the Suncoast Conference Champions, at 11 a.m. eastern Monday. The Eagles will need to defeat Polk State twice to claim the region championship and the accompanying trip to the national tournament in St. George, Utah. 

The 10-5 win over Chipola came in dramatic fashion as the Eagles exploded for six runs in the bottom of the sixth, quickly halting the Indians' momentum, gained after scoring two runs in the top half of the inning to take a 5-4 lead. 

A bases-loaded walk to Te Reo Powhiri Matautia brought home the tying run, and Brenda Santana's two-out single scored Danielle Patterson and Ashley Smith with the go-ahead runs. But the Eagles weren't finished. 

The next batter, Brianna Murillo, capped the rally with a three-run homer to left centerfield to give Tallahassee a 10-5 lead. 

Mariah Rivera, who started in the circle, was relieved by Ashley Dobson in the fourth, but reentered in the sixth and was credited with the victory – her second of the day. 

Rivera, who is now 3-0 in the tournament, needed some time to settle in against Chipola. She gave up a three-run homer in the top of the first to Brashante' Dareus, but Alexis Huss got two of the runs back in the bottom half with a two-run homer. 

After tying the game at 3-all, Tallahassee took its first lead when No. 9 hitter Taesha DuBoise led off the fourth with a solo home run, her first of the season. 

Rivera pitched a total of 4.1 innings against the Indians she allowed only two hits and struck out five. 

Santana went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs. DuBoise and Matautia each went 2-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored. Murillo was 1-for-4 with three RBI. 

Tallahassee 4, Gulf Coast State 0

Rivera pitched a one-hitter as Tallahassee eliminated its first Panhandle Conference rival on the day with a 4-0 win over Gulf Coast State. 

The Eagles scored a run in each of the first four innings, which was more than enough offense for Rivera, the PC Pitcher of the Year. 

Matautia opened the scoring with a solo homer in the first. Karley Yeager singled home a run in the second. Runs in the third and fourth innings doubled the score to 4-0. 

Tallahassee 3, St. Petersburg 0 

Tallahassee's day began with a no-hitter by Ashley Dobson in a 3-0 win over St. Petersburg College. 

Dobson walked only two, struck out four and allowed only one base runner to advance as far as second base through the first six innings. But two defensive errors in the seventh allowed St. Petersburg to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs before a ground out ended the game. 

Matautia, who went on to have a monster day, drove in all three runs with an RBI-double in the first, solo homer in the fourth and run-scoring single in the sixth. 

She went 3-for-3 with three RBI. DuBoise was 2-for-3.