SAINT LEO, Fla. (April 5, 2013) -
Eighth ranked Rollins found themselves trailing late on Friday
night but rallied to score four in their final two at-bats to
defeat Saint Leo, 4-2.
With the win, the Tars improve to 36-6, 11-6 in the SSC, while
Saint Leo drops to 29-14, 9-4 in conference.
Friday's pitching matchup featured a pair of freshman, Niki
Fogle for Rollins and Alana Tabel for the Lions. Fogle came
into the game second in the SSC with a 0.77 ERA while Tabel was not
far behind, sitting fourth at 1.66. Both would shut down the
opposing offenses in the early goings, each allowing just one hit
heading to the fourth.
Tabel would strand a Tars base runner in the top half of the
inning before SLU finally got to Fogle in the home half, scoring a
run on an RBI single by Chelsey Steedley.
Rollins threatened in the fifth, putting runners on second and
third with two out, bringing up senior Hannah
Lovestrand. Lovestrand laced a Tabel offering to deep center
but Steedley tracked it down a step from the warning track to end
the threat and preserve the Lions' lead.
Saint Leo would add another in the bottom of the inning, this
time it was Brittany Ewing who provided the RBI base hit, extending
the Lions lead to 2-0 after five innings.
The Tars put pressure on Tabel again in the sixth. Juniors Kristie
Hoeffer and Veronica
Alred led off the inning with back-to-back singles before Brittany
Johnson popped up to short, bringing up freshman Courtney
Durbin. Durbin came through in a big way, roping a double to
the gap in right center, scoring both Hoeffer and Alred to put the
Tars on the board and tie the score, 2-2.
After Fogle stranded two SLU runners in bottom half of the
sixth, Rollins added two more in the seventh. Senior Aimee
Halpin and Lovestrand both scored in the inning, Halpin coming
around on a Lions fielding error while Lovestrand came into score
on an Alred sac fly.
SLU managed a two-out hit in the seventh but Fogle got Rachelle
Gremo to fly out to center to secure the win, her nation leading
20th of the year, improving to 20-2. The Tars' ace gave
up two runs on six hits in seven innings pitched.
C. Durbin accounted for two of Rollins' seven hits, going 2-3
with a double and two RBI.
Rollins will finish the three-game SSC series against the Lions
with a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 6. Game one is set to begin
at 1 p.m. Fans can follow along with all the action live on the
Tars Sports Network on RollinsSports.com
