March 25, 2021
#2 FSW Remains Unbeaten In Conference Play with Sweep of Polk
Like a well-oiled machine, the #2 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers rolled to a doubleheader sweep of Polk State in Suncoast Conference play on Thursday at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers, scoring runs in 8 of 10 offensive innings on the night to win 12-6 and 10-1 to improve to 26-3 on the year.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Like a well-oiled machine, the #2 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers rolled to a doubleheader sweep of Polk State in Suncoast Conference play on Thursday at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers, scoring runs in 8 of 10 offensive innings on the night to win 12-6 and 10-1 to improve to 26-3 on the year.
Polk came out fired up and jumped on the Bucs right away, scoring three times in the top of the 1st to take an early 3-0 lead.
The Bucs got two back in the bottom of the inning on a throwing error by the Eagles and an RBI single from Shanika Klett to get back to within one at 3-2.
The Eagles were back at it in the 2nd, getting the two runs back to push their lead to three once again at 5-2.
FSW tied the game at 5 on one swing of the bat in the bottom of the frame when Feline Poot cracked her 11th homer of the season over the wall in left to draw the Bucs back even.
The Bucs took their first lead of the game in the 3rd when Chelsea Brown hammered an RBI double down the left field line to make it 6-5.
The Bucs blew the game open in the 5th getting a sacrifice fly from Charlotte Drijvers and back to back RBI singles from Eliska Stejkalova and Janessa Plummer to go up five, 10-5.
In out of the FSW bullpen, Alyssa O'Donnell continued to dominate the Eagle lineup on the rubber in the 6th and the Bucs tacked on two more in the bottom of the inning on a double from Natavia Ellis to make it 12-5.
An FSW error allowed a run to score in the 7th, but it wasn't nearly enough for Polk as O'Donnell finished them off to give the Bucs a 12-6 win in the opener.
FSW outhit Polk 14-8 in the contest, led by Brown who was a perfect 3-3 with a pair of doubles and an RBI. Nine different Bucs had hits in the win including Klett, Ellis, and Plummer who had two each. O'Donnell earned the win in relief, going 5 2/3 innings, allowing just three hits and one unearned run while striking out six to improve to 13-1 on the year.
The Bucs didn't wait around in game two, jumping all over the Eagles right off the bat. Already with a 2-0 lead, another RBI double from Brown made it a 3-0 game and another from Stejkalova put the Bucs up 4-0 after one.
It was more of the same in the 2nd as Taylor Jensen singled home a run to make it 5-0 and Brown and Sterre Den Duijn followed suit to push the lead to 7-0. Later in the inning a bases loaded walk to Feline Poot forced home a run and Owen Bowers ripped a single up the middle to blow it open to a 10-0 game.
Alyson Marcum worked her third straight 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd before handing the ball over to Brooke Geiger in the 4th who closed the game with two innings and just one run allowed as the Bucs finished off a 10-1 win in run rule fashion to sweep the doubleheader.
Five different Bucs had multi-hit games as Brown, Stejkalova, Den Duijn, and Rebeca Laudino all had two hits and a run scored while Brown was 2-2 with two RBIs and Ellis was 2-2 with two runs scored. Marcum earned her second win of the year in the circle with three perfect innings for the Bucs, striking out four
FSW takes a stranglehold on the Suncoast Conference standings with the sweep, improving to 26-3 overall and 7-0 in league play. The Bucs cool Polk down as the Eagles fall to 4-11 overall and 4-3 in Suncoast action.
The Bucs don't play another official game until next Thursday when they go to Tampa to take on Hillsborough, but FSW will see exhibition action on Saturday when they go toe to toe with the #3 ranked team in the World, Team Canada at 11 AM at City of Palms Park.