CF drops Tallahassee in FCSAA opener

VERO BEACH, Fla. (May 1, 2015) – FCSAA No. 7 Tallahassee Community College opened postseason play on Friday with a 7-2 loss to No. 1 College of Central Florida in opening round play at the NJCAA District/FCSAA State Softball Tournament at Historic Dodgertown. 

The loss dropped the Eagles (29-16) into the loser's bracket of the 16-team, double-elimination event and a 7 p.m. date against Palm Beach State College. Tallahassee must win to extend its season to Saturday, and the Eagles need six consecutive elimination game triumphs for a return trip to the NJCAA Division I Softball Championship.

Sound familiar? It should.

Just last year, Tallahassee suffered an opening round loss to Hillsborough Community College then promptly rattled off six straight wins to claim the district championship and the accompanying berth to St. George, Utah. 

On Friday, Tallahassee scored in its first at-bat but potentially missed an opportunity to put the Patriots in an even deeper hole. With the bases loaded and two outs, Taylor Scher singled with two strikes to plate Brianna Tourtillott and Kayla Boucher and give the Eagles the early 2-0 lead.

Tallahassee eventually left the bases loaded – its only three runners left on base – and ace righty Mariah Rivera took the circle with a two-run cushion.

Central Florida answered in its half of the first with two runs and the game remained tied until the bottom of the fifth when an unearned run gave the Patriots a 3-2 lead. They put the game away with four more in the sixth for the 7-2 win.

In tough-luck fashion, Rivera was tagged with the loss for Tallahassee.