Spartans Shutout Tritons in Saturday Doubleheader Sweep
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The No. 17 University of Tampa (25-8, 13-5 SSC) softball team swept a pair of games against Eckerd College (17-27, 4-14 SSC) at Turley Complex on Saturday.
Kayla Cox started the first game for the Spartans and earned her 19th victory of the season. She tossed 7.0 complete innings with eight strikeouts while allowing no runs on five hits. Her record improves to 19-4 on the season.
Tampa took an early lead in the top of the third on a Taylor Storey RBI double. Stacy Piagno came around to score and give Tampa a 1-0 advantage.
The Spartans added another run in the fourth on a double by Kayleen Boatwright. Brittany Garcia came around to score on the RBI base hit.
Garcia led off the sixth with a base hit to start a four run rally in the inning. She would score the first run on a wild pitch by Eckerd starter Logan Rohrbach. Following the wild pitch Brie Walton scored on an illegal pitch by the Triton pitcher. Boatwright came around to score on a wild pitch by Eckerd relief pitcher Brittany Mitchell. Katie Bannon scored the final run of the inning on an RBI base hit by Meagan Burke to extend the Tampa lead to 6-0.
The Spartan offense added four more runs in the seventh. Walton led off the inning and singled to center. She scored on an RBI double by Boatwright that followed. Pinch hitter Lindsay Dring singled to set the stage for Piagno. She blasted a three-run homer to right center to give Tampa a 10-0 advantage, which would be the final score.
Julia Morrow started the second game where she went 6.0 innings with nine strikeouts and allowing no runs on one hit. She earned her sixth victory of the year and now holds an overall record of 6-4.
Piagno continued to showcase her power in the top of the first. She belted a two-run homer to center that scored Bannon and gave Tampa a 2-0 advantage.
The Spartan offense erupted for four runs in the third. Burke delivered a bases loaded RBI base hit in the inning. Storey had a clutch two RBI base hit following an RBI groundout by Piagno to extend the lead to 6-0.
Tampa added a run in the fifth on an RBI base hit by Dring that scored Bannon.
Pinch hitter Alyssa Colletti led off the sixth with a single. She advanced to third on a double by Garcia and later scored in the inning on an RBI groundout by Boatwright.
Morrow and the Spartan defense held the Tritons scoreless and won the second game by a final score of 8-0 in six innings as a result of the run rule.
UT will return to action on April 19 at home for the first of a three game series against Nova Southeastern. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. Live stats will be available through www.tampaspartans.com.
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