February 20, 2022
FSW Continues Tear, Dismantles South Georgia & Chipola
The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers continued their unstoppable tear on Sunday, first crushing the South Georgia State Hawks 17-0 before putting it on the #16 Chipola Indians 13-0 in a matchup of the NJCAA's last two National Champions.
SANFORD, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers continued their unstoppable tear on Sunday, first crushing the South Georgia State Hawks 17-0 before putting it on the #16 Chipola Indians 13-0 in a matchup of the NJCAA's last two National Champions.
The Bucs never gave South Georgia State a chance in their first game of the day, scoring a pair of runs before they recorded their first out and getting a two run single from Carys Platt later in the frame to give FSW a 5-0 lead after a half inning of play.
South Georgia State tried to answer back in the bottom of the inning as they put runners on the corners with nobody out, but a fly ball to left and a strike from left fielder Beth Reid to catcher Charlotte Drijvers cut down a runner at the plate to get the Bucs out of a jam to keep it a 5-0 game.
The Bucs continued to swing the bats in the 2nd as McKenzie Wittenberg ripped a two run double to left to make it 7-0 and Chelsea Brown lifted her second sacrifice fly in as many innings to up the FSW lead to 8-0.
Wittenberg drove home another run in the 4th to make it a 9-0 game.
In the 5th the Bucs exploded again as Wittenberg drove in her fifth and sixth runs of the game with a single to make it 12-0 and Brooke Geiger lined a double off the wall in center to push the lead to 13-0. A sac fly from Drijvers and a Hawk error made it 15-0 and the Bucs added two more before the inning finally came to a close with FSW on top 17-0.
After getting it done with the bat in the top of the inning, Geiger got it done in the circle in the bottom half of the frame, closing out the Hawks to finish off a 17-0 run rule win for the Bucs.
The Bucs finished with 14 hits in the win led by Wittenberg who finished a perfect 4-4 with 6 RBIs and Platt who went 2-4 with 3 driven home. The offense overshadowed a solid effort in the circle for FSW as Samantha Smith went 3 scoreless innings, striking out 6 to earn her first collegiate win before giving way to Geiger who tossed a pair of scoreless frames and struck out 4 to close things out.
With all due respect to the Hawks, the game that was circled on the Bucs schedule since the start of the year was their second matchup of the day against #16 Chipola. The two teams came into the battle a combined 33-2 on the year and the winners of the past two NJCAA National Championships.
The Bucs had the chance to strike first in the top of the 1st as they put runners on second and third with nobody out after a leadoff triple from Laura Vigna and a walk and stolen base from Sterre den Duijn. But a ground ball back to the pitcher and a strikeout ended the threat and kept the game scoreless after one.
FSW had traffic again in the 2nd as they loaded the bases with one out ahead of a double off the wall from Vigna to clear the bases and put the Bucs up 3-0. Later in the inning, Wittenberg came through with another clutch knock, driving home Vigna from third to make it a 4-0 game.
Bucs starter Baylee Haggard was dialed in in the circle, spinning a 1-2-3 bottom of the 2nd to keep it a 4-0 game in favor of FSW.
The Bucs extended upon that lead quickly in the 3rd as Caroline Figueroa homered to lead off the frame to make it a 5-0 game and later on Shenita Tucker and Pallas Potter drove home runs to stretch it to 7-0.
Vigna drove home another run in the 4th with a sac fly to cushion the FSW lead to 8-0.
Haggard needed just three pitches to get through the Indians order in the bottom of the 4th and the Bucs were right back at it with the bats in the top of the 5th.
After loading the bases with one out, three straight RBI singles from Brown, Feline Poot, and Vigna upped the Bucs lead to 13-0.
Stunned, the defending State Champion Indians went down quietly in their final at bats in the 5th as Haggard wrapped up her shutout to kick in the run rule with the Bucs winning it 13-0.
The Bucs outhit the Indians 15-3 in the win, led by Vigna who like Wittenberg in game one, finished 4-4 with 6 RBIs, missing the cycle by just a home run. Poot was 3-4 with an RBI and two runs scored and Figueroa was 2-3 with a homer and 2 RBIs. Haggard needed just 47 pitches to shutout the Indians, going the distance in the circle to improve to 9-0 on the year, allowing just three hits in her second shutout of the year.
The Bucs have won 12 straight overall and eight straight in five inning run rules to improve to 18-1 on the year. FSW has outscored their opponents a mind-blowing 146-22 during the stretch.
FSW will now play their next six games at home starting on Tuesday when they host South Florida State in a doubleheader beginning at 5 PM at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers.