Eagles split with NWF State, clinch postseason berth

NICEVILLE, Fla. (April 16, 2015) - Tallahassee Community College will have a chance to defend its FCSAA State Championship.

The Eagles split a doubleheader with Northwest Florida State College on Thursday, winning the opener, 6-4, and then dropping game two, 5-4. Coupled with Gulf Coast State College's sweep of Pensacola State College, the Eagles clinched a berth in the FCSAA State Softball Tournament, May 1-3 in Vero Beach, Fla.

For the moment, Tallahassee (27-15), with its conference season in the books, sits in second place in the Panhandle Conference standings at 7-9, just percentage points ahead of Pensacola State (6-8).

Pensacola State and Northwest Florida State are scheduled to play on Friday, the teams' fourth attempt at the doubleheader. Regardless of the outcome, Northwest Florida State must also finish Tuesday's suspended game two with Gulf Coast State, which the Raiders lead 9-2 with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.

Depending on the outcome of the remaining three games, Tallahassee can earn the No. 2, No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the PC. No scenario can eliminate the Eagles from postseason contention.

In Thursday's opener, the teams went to the sixth tied at 3-all, but the Eagles scored the next three runs for a 6-3 lead. Northwest Florida State got one of the runs back before Tallahassee finished off the 6-4 victory.

In the nightcap, Tallahassee tied the game after trailing 4-1 but the Raiders scored the walk-off victory in the bottom of the seventh.