#TCCSoftball: Eagles sweep P'cola for Townsend’s 400th win

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (April 4, 2017) - The Tallahassee Community College Eagles swept Pensacola State College 6-0 and 2-1 in doubleheader softball action on Tuesday evening. 

TCC gained sole possession of fourth place in the Panhandle Conference and improved to 20-18 (4-10 PC) with the victory. Head Coach Patti Townsend also recorded career win number 400 – all at TCC - with the game two win. 

In game one, Alycia Smith opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first. After a scoreless second, the Eagles' offense came back to life in the third. With Smith on second base, Kristin Gunter smashed a ball deep into right field for a double that brought Smith home for her second run of the game to increase TCC's lead to 2-0. 

Later in the inning, Samantha Malik hit a two-run homer to bring the score to 5-0. Malik has 12 home runs on the season. 

Malik would be one-upped by Gunter in the fifth inning. Gunter recorded a solo homer for her 13th home run of the season, tying the school record set by Amanda Ake in 2011. 

Raya Moncus paced the Eagles in the circle in game one. She finished with three strikeouts and helped hold Pensacola State scoreless across seven innings. 

Smith, Gunter, and Elisa Cecchetti recorded six of the Eagles' eight hits in game one. Malik finished with one hit and two RBIs. 

In game two, the Eagles broke a scoreless tie in the second inning. With Casey Durham on second base, Alyssa NeSmith knocked a ball in between first and second that bounced deep into the outfield, scoring Durham to make it 1-0 in TCC's favor. 

Later in the inning, and with Malik on first, Brandie Callaway hit a grounder to third but Emily Corbitt's throw shot past the bag at second and rolled all the way to the right field fence, scoring Malik for a 2-0 lead. 

Pensacola State earned their first run of the doubleheader in the third inning, but TCC would go on to hold the Pirates scoreless the rest of the contest. 

The Eagles' defense was on full display in the win. 

Gunter made a spectacular play in the fourth inning, corralling a ball that was hopping along the third base foul line before making the cross-field throw to Cecchetti to force an out at first base. In the fifth, Durham slid to her knees to catch a ball deep in left field, and she ended the inning by coming down with another fly ball out. 

In the sixth, Cecchetti, playing at first base after catching in game one, caught a liner then stepped on the bag at first to double off the runner for the double play. The Eagles finished the game with two double plays. 

Pensacola State threatened to tie the game in the seventh inning as runners advanced to second and third base. Cecchetti tagged out a hitter along the first base line and then NeSmith caught a popup at the plate for out number two. 

Durham ended the game with her best play of the evening. With the tying run on third base, she made an acrobatic catch deep in left field to seal the win. 

NeSmith led the Eagles with two hits and an RBI. Durham, Callaway, and Cassidy Strickling each finished with one hit. 

Brooke Bates started the game and finished with one strikeout across four innings to earn the win. Moncus pitched the final three innings to notch the save. 

Tallahassee will be back in action on Thursday when it travels to Gulf Coast State College for a doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m.

Prior to Tuesday's second game, Tallahassee Community College recognized its seven-member sophomore class - Alycia Smith, Casey Durham, Kristin Gunter, Elisa Cecchetti, Raya Moncus, Brooke Bates and Alyssa NeSmith.