Tars Blank Mocs in Home Opener

WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 14, 2025) - Stellar performances in the circle helped the Tars secure their first SSC victory in front of a packed crowd in Friday night's home opener. Two early runs was all that was needed to push Rollins (3-2) to a 2-0 victory over the Florida Southern Mocs and a 1-0 record to start conference play.
 
Grace Germer got the party started when she singled to lead off the game, and Brooke Theisen quickly followed suit. After a double steal and a walk to load the bases, Taylor Waters did her job with a sacrifice fly to score the speedy Germer. The Tars were menaces on the base path all night, stealing four bags, manufacturing runs.
 
In the second inning, the Tars maintained their aggressiveness, beginning the frame with a double off the bat of Kaeli Zahradnik. After stealing third, the junior came around to score on a sac fly by Makayla Layton. The early 2-0 lead after two innings was all the Rollins pitching staff needed.
 
Senior ace Emily MacMullen was back to her old ways with a phenomenal start. She went 4.0 innings, giving up four hits, three walks and striking out two. MacMullen worked her way out of trouble a few times, having baserunners in each inning she pitched. But fantastic defense, highlighted by a line-out double play turned by Layton and Cambrie Todd to end the third, and clutch pitching, working out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth, helped MacMullen prevail.
 
Taylor Hartman, who has been outstanding in relief all season for the Tars, held the door shut in the fifth and sixth. Despite runners reaching in each frame, Hartman too found her way out of it unscathed.
 
Finally, freshman Camila Leon-Blanco locked up any chance for Florida Southern to extend the game, getting the Mocs to go down one-two-three in the seventh. For Leon-Blanco, it is her first career save in a Rollins uniform. And for the Tars, it is the first win of what began a nine-game conference slate stretch over the next three weeks.

The Tars will be back in action for a double dip with the Mocs to complete the series on Saturday. First pitch comes to you live from Martin Luther King Jr. Park at 12:00pm with the second game of the doubleheader getting under way 30 minutes following the conclusion of game one.
 
Be sure to check out the free live stream on RollinsSports.com if you can't make it to the game and to follow the team all season long!