Spartans Sweep Tritons in Walk-off Fashion

The No. 4 University of Tampa softball team (27-4, 15-3 SSC) swept a pair of games over Eckerd College (18-18, 5-10 SSC) at Naimoli Family Field on Sunday afternoon by final scores of 2-0 and 2-1 respectively.

Junior Julia Morrow took the circle for the Spartans in game one and tossed 7.0 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts. She allowed only two hits to earn her 14th victory of the year.

Lindsay Dring gave Tampa a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a two RBI single to plate Kayleen Boatwright and Meagan Burke.

The Spartans put together a scoring threat in the second after back to back singles by Boatwright and Kandi Kuder but were unable to add to the lead.

Both offenses were held scoreless for the remainder of the game as Morrow and Tritons starter Amber Hay limited any further scoring opportunities.

Dring and Boatwright led all Spartans with two hits in the game. Burke and Katlyn Raatz also contributed with a base hit each to total seven for Tampa.

Kayla Cox started game two for the Spartans and earned her 13th victory of the season. She tossed 7.0 innings with eight strikeouts while allowing no earned runs on two hits.

Eckerd took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth as a result of a Tampa throwing error that allowed Kaycie Duncan to score.

Tritons starter Erin Dixson limited the Spartans to only two hits through the first six innings while allowing no runs with two strikeouts.

Megin Eskew singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh to start the UT rally. Dring and Raatz followed each reaching base after being hit by a pitch to set the stage for Alyssa Colletti who delivered what appeared to be a sacrifice fly. A fielding error by the Tritons allowed Colletti to reach base safely as the Spartans tied the game. Pinch hitter Kelsey Humphrey lined the game-winner down the right field line to give Tampa a 2-1 victory.

Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score

Tampa returns to action Friday April 11 at Nova Southeastern for a 6 p.m. Sunshine State Conference matchup for the first of a three game series. Live stats will be available at www.tampa.statbroadcast.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.