ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (April 18, 2025) –The Rollins Tars and Eckerd Tritons met on the diamond for a pair of games to wrap up the weekend series Friday, with both teams grabbing a win. In game one, a late Eckerd rally mirrored Friday night's output as the Tars let an early lead fall through the cracks, falling 6-3. Game two was a different story, though. The Tars jumped out in front first and would not be denied, avoiding a sweep with a 5-3 win.
Game One
By the time
Reese Twiggs stepped into the circle as Saturday's game one starter, she already had breathing room. After two quick outs in the top of the first,
Madi Carr kept the inning alive with a double.
Jaden Walker followed, producing a run on a groundball to the shortstop that induced a throwing error. Carr scooted around to score from second and just like that, the Tars had a 1-0 lead.
The advantage did not last long, however. Eckerd quickly loaded the bases with no outs in their first turn at the dish. Twiggs was able to squeak her way out of it, but not completely unscathed, allowing one unearned run to score, which tied the game at one.
In the blink of an eye, the Tars jumped out in front again, and once more it was by nature of a two out hit. This time,
Grace Germer provided the RBI, singling to score
Jenna Borkey. For those counting, that makes five out of the last six games where Germer has produced a run offensively.
Twiggs settled into a groove after the first, rolling through the Tritons lineup without much resistance. The score remained 2-1 into the top of the fifth, when the top of the Tars lineup got in on the action. Back-to-back hits by Bri Perantoni and
Brooke Theisen helped to double the Tars lead, making it 3-1 going into the bottom of the fifth.
It appeared as though Eckerd would go quietly in the bottom half, but the Tritons found a way to flip the script, producing three two-out runs. Cleanup hitting Addisan Langston packed a punch with her two-run homer, which gave the Tritons the lead.
Then in the sixth, after the Tars went down in order, Eckerd grabbed two more runs to double up the visitors. Rollins loaded the bases in their final opportunity, but Eckerd's Brandilyn Reymer escaped with a goose egg and picked up her second win of the series in the process.
Game Two
The Tars came out with a vengeance in the series finale, pouring in a four-run second inning to take control. After both teams went down in order in the first, Rollins opened the top of inning number two with five consecutive hits.
Jenna Borkey's extra base knock, which scored
Brie Michelli and
Jaden Walker, gave the Tars their first lead at 2-0. One batter later, pinch hitting
Rachel Matthiesen picked up an RBI, which put the Tars ahead 4-0, as
Claire Long had scored on a wild pitch during Matthiesen's at-bat.
The four-run advantage was appreciated, but unnecessary for Rollins starter
Camila Leon-Blanco. The freshman was once again brilliant within the circle, not allowing a base runner until the bottom of the fourth. At that point, the Tars had grown their lead to 5-0, courtesy of
Brooke Theisen's aggressiveness. The junior reached on an error, advanced to second via a sacrifice by
Madi Carr, took third on a wild pitch and completed her trip around the diamond in style, stealing home.
The extra breathing room was helpful as game one's star, Addisan Langston, duplicated her stat line with another two-run shot, pulling Eckerd with three.
Both teams traded scoreless frames in the fifth, but the Tritons threatened in the sixth. After Leon-Blanco worked two quick outs, she loaded the bases attempting to power through the heart of the Eckerd order. Nonetheless, the freshman showed poise well beyond her years, putting out the fire with a strikeout.
Perhaps the mitigated damage was a foreshadowing of events to follow, as Eckerd pulled even closer in the seventh thanks to an RBI triple. But with the winning run at the plate for consecutive hitters, Leon-Blanco worked around one of the highest-powered offenses in the SSC to clinch a 5-3 victory for the Tars.
Next week brings a well-deserved bye for Rollins as the Tars will have the weekend off from any competition. The next time the Tars will take to the diamond is Friday, May 2
nd, when they will hit the road again for Palm Beach Atlantic. Currently, the Tars sit at 27-14 overall and 16-11 against a tough SSC slate.
