#TCCSoftball eliminated on day one in Vero Beach

#TCCSoftball eliminated on day one in Vero Beach

VERO BEACH, Fla. (April 29, 2016) – Tallahassee Community College's softball season came to an end on Friday night when Region 8 No. 6 State College of Florida knocked off the Eagles 7-5 in an elimination game at the NJCAA District/FCSAA State Softball Tournament, held at Historic Dodgertown.

Tallahassee fell into the loser's bracket with a 4-1 loss to No. 3 Indian River State College in Friday's opening round game.

Trailing 5-2 entering the sixth, the Eagles' rallied to tie the game.

With two outs and nobody on, Julianne Gillo reached on an error by State College of Florida second baseman Brandi Bunker. Brooke Marendino followed with a single to left-center, and Bunker's second error of the inning allowed Alycia Smith to reach base and load the bases.

Kristin Gunter made the Manatees pay, delivering a single to score Gillo and Marendino, and Elisa Cecchetti's RBI-single scored Smith to knot the game at 5-all.

Earlier in the game, Tallahassee erased a 1-0 deficit with two runs in the top of the third, only to see the Manatees answer with four in their half of the inning.

State College of Florida had another answer in the sixth.

Back-to-back singles and a sac-bunt put two runners in scoring position, and Erica Ward's double to the left field corner scored the eventual winning runs.

Alexandra Cook, who came on in relief in the third, took the loss for Tallahassee, her second of the day after coming up on the short end in the loss to Indian River State.

Against the Pioneers, Cook allowed only three hits and four walks in the complete-game effort but two of the walks came in the decisive fifth inning.

With the game tied at 1-1, Cook walked the leadoff batter and, following a sac-bunt, walked her second batter of the inning. Jessica Mohl followed with a three-run, inside-the-park home run that proved to be the difference.

Indian River State got on the board in the bottom of the first, but Tallahassee answered in the second.

Leadoff hitter Madisen Blair reached on an error and advanced to second, then moved to third on a wild pitch. Alyssa NeSmith's single scored Blair to tie the game at 1-all.

Cecchetti had two of the Eagles' four hits against Indian River State and finished 5-for-7 on the day, after going 3-for-4 against State College of Florida.

Casey Durham was 2-for-4 and drove in two runs against State College of Florida.

Tallahassee, eliminated on day one of the tournament for the first time in ten trips under head coach Patti Townsend, ends its season with a record of 21-23.