Behind DuBoise, Yeager, Eagles walk-off in dramatic fashion

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (March 21, 2015) – The NJCAA No. 6/FCSAA No. 4 Tallahassee Community College Eagles swept a Panhandle Conference softball doubleheader from Gulf Coast State College on Saturday afternoon, winning both games in dramatic fashion.

The Eagles rallied in game one to claim a 2-1 victory in the game's final inning.

The drama carried over into game two as the Eagles needed extra innings before walking off to claim a 7-6 victory.

Tallahassee improved to 20-8 on the season and 2-2 in Panhandle Conference play.

Game one turned into a pitchers' duel early on as Gulf Coast State's Kathrine Gordon and Tallahassee's Mariah Rivera shut down the opposing team's offense.

The Commodores struck first in the third inning scoring their only run of the game. 

It took the Eagles until the seventh inning to get on the board and when they did it was in dramatic fashion. 

Shelby Manns, representing the tying run, was in scoring position at second, and Danielle Patterson, representing the winning run, was on first as Taesha DuBoise stepped to the plate. 

DuBoise hit one to the right-centerfield gap, scoring Manns easily from second to tie the game.  The Commodores caught DuBoise well beyond the bag at second and threw behind her for the out. When they did, however, Patterson broke for home and slid in safely as the throw from second base was off the mark.

Rivera pitched all seven innings in the win, her eighth complete game this season, and only gave up two hits.  With the victory, she improved to 7-2.

DuBoise went 1-for-4, with her only hit coming on the final play of the game. 

Game two turned into on offensive show with both teams matching each other blow for blow.

The Commodores struck first again, this time with three runs in the third inning. 

The Eagles came right back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the third and again it was DuBoise coming up with a clutch hit. 

With two runners on base, DuBoise hit a line drive down the left field line and the ball found its way into the corner.  Brooke Marendino and Patterson scored easily while DuBoise never slowed down, circling the bases for a game-tying, inside-the-park home run. 

An inning later, Tallahassee came to bat trailing 5-3 and loaded the bases for Marendino. During her at-bat, Gulf Coast State uncorked three wild pitches to clear the bases and give the Eagles a 6-5 lead.

The Commodores tied the game in the fifth and the score remained knotted at 6-all until Karley Yeager stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth.  

With runners on second and third, Yeager hit a hard ground ball up the middle to bring in the game-winning run.

Duboise went 1-for-4 in game two and had three RBI.

Alexandra Cook got the start for the Eagles and pitched two innings before Gabrielle Decker entered in relief.

Rivera entered the game with the score tied to close out the game and earned the win, her second of the day to improve her season record to 8-2.

The Eagles will be back in action on Tuesday when they take on Santa Fe College in a doubleheader.  Game one is scheduled for 4 p.m