No. 12 Tampa Sweeps Lynn to Conclude the Regular Season
TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 12 University of Tampa (31-8, 19-5 SSC) softball team swept a pair of games against Lynn University (19-31, 5-19 SSC) at Lynn Softball Field on Saturday.
Kayla Cox started game one for the Spartans and earned her 23rd victory of the season. She tossed 7.0 complete innings with 14 strikeouts while allowing no runs on one hit. Her record improves to 23-4 on the season.
Tampa took an early lead in the top of the third on an RBI base hit by Lindsay Dring. Kayleen Boatwright came around to score and give the Spartans a 1-0 advantage.
In the top of the fifth the Spartans rallied for five runs. Meagan Burke drew a bases loaded RBI walk to score Brie Walton. Taylor Storey followed with a grand slam that she crushed over the left field fence. Katie Bannon, Stacy Piagno, and Burke scored to give Tampa a 6-0 lead.
Tampa added a run in the seventh on an RBI double by Taylor Collins. Megan Paul came around to score and give the Spartans a 7-0 advantage, which would be the final score.
Erika Shick, Kandi Kuder, and Chelsey Brooks also contributed for Tampa with a base hit apiece.
Julia Morrow started the second game where she went 5.1 innings with five strikeouts and allowing one unearned run on one hit. She earned her eighth win of the year and now holds an overall record of 8-4. Cox pitched the final 1.2 innings and earned her third save of the season while striking out one and allowing one hit.
The Spartans opened the scoring in the top of the third on an RBI groundout by Boatwright that plated Alyssa Colletti. Piagno also had an RBI groundout in the inning that scored Walton to give Tampa a 2-0 advantage.
Lynn got on the board in the bottom of the sixth on a throwing error by Tampa that allowed Danielle McNeil to score and cut the deficit to 2-1.
Colletti led off the top of the seventh and belted a solo homer to left. Dring delivered an RBI double that scored Boatwright. Piagno followed with a sacrifice fly that plated Bannon to give the Spartans a 5-1 lead, which would be the final score.
Tampa will now look forward to the 2013 NCAA Division II South Regional, which is scheduled to begin May 10. Pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced on NCAA.com.
Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans), Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans), YouTube (youtube.com/utathletics) and Instragram (tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.