#TCCSoftball: Long ball sends Eagles to split with NWF State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (March 29, 2019) – Tallahassee Community College's softball team picked up a split against Northwest Florida State College in Friday's Panhandle Conference doubleheader. 

The Eagles won game one, 5-4, but dropped game two, 9-4. 

Tallahassee hit five home runs on the afternoon, three of which came in the game one victory. 

Katelyn Hobbs led off the first with a solo homer. Three batters later, Olivia Russell drilled a two-run shot to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead. Monica Marquez hit a two-run homer one inning later and the lead increased to 5-0. 

That was just enough for Sidney Mathis (9-9), who scattered eight hits in the complete-game victory. 

The Raiders got on the board in the fifth when Sydney Byrd singled home two runs. Later in the inning, runner's interference wiped a third run off the board and kept the Eagles' lead at three. 

Byrd hit a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh to bring the Raiders within a run but Mathis recorded the final out to preserve the win. 

Hobbs, Marquez and Russell had two hits each for Tallahassee. 

In game two, the balls continued to fly out of the TCC Softball Complex. 

Sara Brugnoli's two-run homer in the first gave the Eagles an early lead and the score remained 2-0 until the fourth when the Raiders played long ball – Byrd's two-run shot, her second of the day, knotted the game at 2-all. 

Northwest Florida State had two on with nobody out in the fifth but Tallahassee starter Emma Fowler pitched her way out of the jam to keep the game tied. The Eagles took advantage of their scoring opportunity in the bottom half. 

With runners at second and third and one out, consecutive walks – the second to Brugnoli – forced in the go-ahead run for a 3-2 lead. Northwest Florida State regained a 4-3 lead in the sixth, but Tallahassee answered. 

Again, it was a home run – this time off the bat of Ismay Poot – that tied the game at 4-4. 

Northwest Florida State struck quickly in the seventh to blow the game open. 

The first six batters reached base. Five of them scored and just like that the Raiders had a 9-4 lead and claimed a split. 

Mathis (9-10) pitched 1.3 innings in relief and was tagged with the game two loss. 

Brugnoli homered and drove in three runs. 

Tallahassee (16-25, 3-9 PC) will travel to Chipola College for a doubleheader on Tuesday beginning at 5 p.m.