ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 22, 2013) - The
10th ranked Tars used the long ball en route to a rain
shortened victory Friday night, using three homeruns to defeat the
Eckerd Tritons, 7-0, in five innings.
Rollins jumped all over Tritons' starter Kaitlyn Dougherty in
the first, exploding for three runs in the inning. First, senior Aimee
Halpin came around to score after leading off the game with a
single before junior Jessica
Gipson hit the Tars' first homerun of the night, a no-doubter
to deep center field. The two-run shot, her fourth on the season,
scored Veronica
Alred who had reached on a fielder's choice.
Eckerd then went scoreless in the bottom of the inning before
Rollins would add to their lead in the second. This time it was Hilary
Brown who went deep, also her fourth on the year, as the junior
led off the inning with a long fly ball over the fence in right
center to extend the Tars lead to 4-0.
Rollins starter Niki
Fogle would strand a Triton runner in both the second and third
innings to head to the fourth with the Tars still up, 4-0.
In the fourth, it was Alred's turn to provide the fireworks,
homering down the left field line. Alred's team leading, seventh of
the year, scored Brown and Hannah
Lovestrand to push the lead to 7-0.
Eckerd would put a runner on in both the fourth and the fifth
but Fogle would again strand both to head to the top of the sixth
with the shutout intact.
It was then both teams were chased from the field due to the
threat of lightning in the area and after a lengthy delay, the game
was called due to worsening conditions.
With five full innings in the books at the time the game was
called, Rollins was credited with the win, improving to 30-4, 7-3
in conference, while Eckerd dropped to 14-20, 2-8 in SSC play.
Fogle (16-1) registered the shutout win, giving just two hits in
five innings and struck out nine.
All nine Rollins starters recorded a hit in the game, led by
Alred who went 1-3 with two runs scored and three RBI.
Rollins will finish the three-game series with Eckerd on
Saturday, Mar. 23 with a doubleheader set to begin at 1 p.m. Fans
can follow along live on the Tars Sports Network on
RollinsSports.com
