#TCCSoftball sweeps ABAC for first wins of 2019

TIFTON, Ga. (January 30, 2019) – Tallahassee Community College's softball team picked up its first wins of the 2019 season on Wednesday, sweeping a doubleheader at Abraham Baldwin (Ga.) Agricultural College. 

The Eagles won game one, 1-0, behind Sidney Mathis' one-hitter then claimed a 6-3 win in the nightcap. 

After dropping four games on opening weekend at the JUCO Kickoff Classic & Showcase in Clearwater, Fla., Tallahassee looked like a different team on Wednesday. 

The Eagles got on the board in their first at-bat. Katelyn Hobbs drew a one-out walk and scored two batters later when Olivia Russell drilled a two-out double to the left centerfield gap. That turned out to be all the run support Mathis (1-2) needed. 

She was dominant, allowing only four batters to reach base. A leadoff single in the fifth was ABAC's lone hit, and only two runners advanced into scoring position. She struck out five. 

A two-out error in the seventh brought the winning run to the plate for ABAC but Mathis retired Ashley Weesner on a pop up to catcher Kathy Rios to end the game. 

The Eagles' bats woke up in game two, totaling nine hits in the 6-3 win. 

Tallahassee scored three runs in the top of the first, all with two outs, to take control early. 

Hobbs reached on an error to start the inning then scored when a two-out error by second baseman Alexis Meadows extended the inning. Following a single, Sara Brugnoli doubled home Russell and Monica Marquez. 

Hobbs' second-inning single scored Desera' Wishart to push Tallahassee's lead to 4-1. 

Leading 4-2, the Eagles blew the game open in the fifth. 

River Glenn and Russell led off the inning with back-to-back singles then, following Marquez' sac-bunt, scored on consecutive hits by Brugnoli and Aliyah Guilliam. 

Both Brugnoli and Marquez were 2-for-4. Brugnoli drove in three runs. 

Sammie Massaro (1-1) started in the circle and carried a 6-3 lead into the sixth before trouble arose. After retiring the leadoff batter, Massaro yielded two singles and a walk to load the bases. 

With the tying runs on base, head coach Patti Townsend turned to Emma Fowler who promptly got the Eagles out of the inning unscathed. 

Fowler snagged a grounder off the bat of Jamilah Johnson and retired the runner at home for out number two. A fly out to left ended the threat and preserved the three-run lead. She retired the Fillies in order in the seventh to record the save. 

Tallahassee will travel to the College of Central Florida on Thursday for a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.