Softball Sweeps Monmouth in Spring Break Twinbill

Thursday, March 21

Jacksonville, Fla.

1 p.m.

University of North Florida

21-9

Monmouth

9-7

Monmouth

North Florida

3/21/2013 6:37:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: North Florida Athletics

Game One Boxscore (PDF)
Game Two Boxscore (PDF)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of North Florida softball swept an early afternoon doubleheader against Monmouth on Thursday at the UNF Softball Complex. The Ospreys posted a 2-0 shutout in the first game and then used extra innings to win 4-3 in Game Two in eight innings.

“We did a better job in the second game at putting the ball on the ground,” said head coach Marcie Hickey. “We've struggled a little bit with fly balls in the last few games, so our focus in that second game was to hit line drives and groundballs. We ended up with a few more groundballs than line drives, but it was a good adjustment on our part that forced them into a couple of errors early on and got us the hits that we needed at the end.”

Kelly Wilson registered the game-winning hits in both games. In Game One, Wilson laced a deep triple to right field in the third inning, driving in Megan David to make it a 1-0 game. She later had a walk-off hit in the eighth in Game Two that brought home two runs for the Ospreys' extra-inning victory.

Already up by one in the first game, UNF added an insurance run in the sixth by taking advantage of a Monmouth error. Ashley Holton darted home on the fielding miscue and the Ospreys took a 2-0 lead.

Kaylie Wallace picked up her fourth complete game shutout of the season with the win. In 7.0 innings, Wallace struck out nine and gave up four hits. Wallace's nine strikeouts were her second-highest of the season and the most since she recorded 11 in the Osprey's season-opener against Bethune-Cookman on Feb. 9 at the Panhandle Invitational.

Cerissa Rivera had the loss after 6.0 innings. Rivera allowed one earned run off five hits and struck out one batter.

In Game Two, UNF jumped out to an early 2-0 lead at the end of the first inning. A pair of Hawk errors ultimately allowed Danica Manadarno to notch the game's first run. Wilson made it 2-0 when she got home on a wild pitch.

However, Monmouth answered in the top of the second. A RBI single to center field from Christine Scherr drove in Shannon Fitzgerald in order to cut the Ospreys' lead down to one.

The Hawks then tied the game up at 2-2 in the fifth. With one out and runners on the corners, Kayla Weiser grounded out, but Tish Derer scored on the game-tying run on the play.

UNF and Monmouth played through two-and-a-half scoreless innings in order to for extras with the international tie-breaker rule in place.

The Hawks broke the tie in the top of the eighth. With no outs, a hard hit through the right side by Weiser brought in Kaitie Schumacher from second and Monmouth took a 3-2 lead.

However, the Ospreys got runners in scoring position for Wilson, who sent a two-run single through the left side. Lexi Taylor quickly scored and Brittany Hendrix beat out the throw at home to lift the Ospreys past the Hawks.

Kayla Goff pitched all 8.0 innings for her ninth complete game of the season. Goff allowed two earned runs off seven hits and fanned six batters.

Jordan Barnett gave up just one earned run in seven hits in 7.1 innings of work. She also struck out one batter.

UNF returns to the road this weekend with a three-game Atlantic Sun series at Lipscomb. The series kicks off with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. EST, from Draper Diamond.