May 28, 2021
Bucs Slug Way to National Championship Game
The #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers will play for their first NJCAA National Championship in program history Saturday after slugging their way past the #11 San Jacinto Coyotes 10-2 Friday afternoon in the National Tournament semifinals.
YUMA, Az.- The #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers will play for their first NJCAA National Championship in program history Saturday after slugging their way past the #11 San Jacinto Coyotes 10-2 Friday afternoon in the National Tournament semifinals.
There was nothing going offensively early on between the Bucs and Coyotes as FSW's Alyssa O'Donnell and San Jac's Ronni Grofman matched zeros through two to quickly send the game to the 3rd scoreless.
San Jac put together the first real scoring threat of the game in the top of the 3rd, getting a double on a misplayed fly ball in the FSW outfield to start their half of the inning, but O'Donnell dialed up a strikeout and got a great defensive play from Feline Poot at third to get out of the jam and keep goose eggs on the board for the Coyotes.
The Bucs finally broke through in the 3rd as Rebeca Laudino lined a double to left center to drive home a run and Janessa Plummer laid down a perfect bunt one batter later to bring another run home to make it 2-0 FSW. Later in the frame the Bucs attempted a double steal and Plummer was erased on the bases, but it allowed Laudino to come home to score to put the Bucs in front 3-0 after three.
O'Donnell cruised through the 4th and the Bucs offense was back at it in the bottom of the inning as Natavia Ellis crushed the first pitch of the frame out of the park to left to extend the FSW lead to 4-0. Later in the inning Chelsea Brown was called upon to pinch hit and ripped a double just inside the line at third to bring two more home and blow the Bucs lead open to 6-0 after four complete.
San Jac got on the board for the first time in the game in the 5th with a two out, two run double to get back into the game at 6-2, but FSW reliever Emily Perrin picked up a strikeout to end the threat of any further damage to keep the Bucs cushion at four.
Janessa Plummer got the Bucs going in the bottom of the 5th, drawing a walk and then moving to second on a single from Taylor Jensen off the leg of the Coyotes pitcher. Ellis then stepped to the plate looking to create some more damage and that she did, crushing her second home run of the game out to left to extend the Bucs lead to 9-2 while in turn, setting the new FSW all-time home run record with her 24th blast of her career. With two outs in the frame, Feline Poot lined a double to the wall and with the run rule in the picture, Owen Bowers ripped a single up the middle to score Poot from second and give the Bucs their second walk off win of the week at 10-2 in 5.
The Bucs outhit the Coyotes 10-2 in the win and played clean defensively for the first time in the tournament. Ellis was the story, finishing 2-3 with two home runs and four RBIs while Bowers was 2-3 with an RBI and a run scored in the win. O'Donnell earned the win in the circle with four shutout innings of work, allowing just two hits and striking out four to improve to 22-1 on the year.
The Bucs improve to 48-4 on the year with the win and have now defeated six top 15 ranked teams in the past seven contests. San Jac falls to 43-9 on the year and will play with their season on the line tonight against Grayson at 5 PM (MST), with the winner moving on to face FSW in Saturday's title game.
FSW advances to its first NJCAA National Championship game in program history Saturday where they will take on the winner of the Grayson/San Jacinto game at noon with the title on the line. The Bucs would need to get beaten twice by that team to be kept without the first National Championship in school history.
