FT. MYERS, Fla. – The Jacksonville University softball team met Florida Gulf Coast Saturday afternoon and battled in both outings but had its efforts thwarted on a pair of walk-off RBI-singles.
Florida Gulf Coast 5, Jacksonville 4
In the midst of a seven-game winless spell, the Eagles scored a total of seven runs in the stretch.
FGCU scored four in the second inning to propel itself over the Dolphins early in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.
Jacksonville's scoreless drought ceased in the top of the fourth. Danielle Baker led off the stanza with a single to center field and scored on the team's next at-bat, a Lexie Ballard triple. The Dolphins plated another run before their first out, cutting the Eagles' lead in half at 4-2.
Ballard's hot streak continued in the fifth where she knotted things at 4-4 as she singled up the middle to bring home two. The 1-2 punch of Baker and Victoria Brown started the inning with a double and single, respectively, and with two outs and a full count, Ballard remained perfect at the plate with her third hit.
The game remained tied at 4-4 for the next four frames as the Dolphins sought their sixth extra-inning victory of the season. Jacksonville posted runners on second and third in the ninth but stranded the pair before FGCU tallied the walk-off single.
The Eagles saw singles from their first three batters with the final hit capping the two and a half hour game.
Ballard, Baker and Simon each worked a multi-hit game with Ballard leading the way with a 3-for-4 effort. Brown pitched the entire game allowing nine hits on 125 pitches with five runs, one earned.
Florida Gulf Coast 2, Jacksonville 1
A pitching duel between Taylor Rossman and Shelby Morgan lasted six innings, but it only took one crack of the bat to open things up.
In what was a scoreless game, Ballard's shot over the left field wall, her 10th career home run with the Green and Gold, provided JU a 1-0 advantage.
Taylor Rossman received the start in the circle and limited the Eagles to two hits in the opening six frames. However, the home team rallied in the seventh, recording back-to-back singles and later loading the bases on a hit batter.
On the very next at-bat, FGCU recorded a hit to left center for its second walk-off victory.
Jacksonville returns to action tomorrow at 2 p.m. where it will look to avoid the series sweep.
