WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 21, 2011) -
Two-time defending Sunshine State Conference champion Rollins
picked up right where it left off last season as the
14th-ranked Tars beat Florida Southern 9-5 Tuesday in
the SSC opener for both schools.
Rollins (5-1, 1-0 SSC) has now won a school-record 22 straight
conference games with the last loss coming to the Mocs on Mar. 24
of last year. The Tars also haven't lost at home since April 2009,
a streak that spans 27 consecutive wins.
Krista
Rodden swung the big bat for Rollins, going 3-4 with four RBIs
and two runs scored. In the third, she blew the game open with a
two-run homer to right center and later added a two-RBI double in
the fifth. Christine
Roser batted 3-4 with an RBI and Hope
Bitzer went 1-2 with a three-run homer first.
Kristen Frame scored the victory in the circle, scattering seven
hits an five runs, two earned, with two walks and seven
strikeouts.
Christine Clark suffered the loss for Florida Southern (2-3, 0-1
SSC), allowing nine hits and eight runs, seven earned, in four and
two-thirds innings. Steph Graziani led the Mocs bats, going
2-4.
FSC struck first, posting two runs in the first, only to have
the Tars come back and hang four in the bottom of the inning,
highlighted by Bitzer's dinger. Southern manufactured another in
the third only to have Rodden's blast in Rollins' half of the frame
give the Tars a 6-3 lead.
Rodden also supplied the two insurance runs in the fifth to make
it 8-3, but FSC cut into the Rollins lead in the top of the sixth
as pinch hitter Randi Grimes hit a two-out, two-run double.
Rollins manufactured a run in bottom of the sixth on a Roser RBI
and Frame shut the door in the seventh to seal the deal for the
Tars.
Rollins and Florida Southern will complete the series on
Wednesday, Feb. 23 at Lake Island Park. First pitch for game one is
slated for 6 p.m. Fans can follow all the action live on the Tars
Sports Network at RollinsSports.com.
