Pirates Take Two From Northwest Florida

The Pirate softball team came out and swept Northwest Florida in two games at home on Thursday. 

In game one they jumped out early and were able to hold on for a 4-2 victory. Pensacola State got on the board in the first inning when Jensen Strickland was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to plate a run. 

The Pirates added another run in the second when Kayla Leibman smacked a two out double to left field to drive in a run to make it 2-0. 

In the third inning Madison Marshall got things started with a solo home run to left field that was eventually followed by an RBI single from Danielle de Ruiter to cap off the Pirates scoring in the game. 

Northwest got on the board in the sixth inning courtesy of a hit by pitch and single to make the score 4-1. They threatened again in the seventh when they used an error and single to pull within two, but then Strickland was able to induce a ground out and then struck out the last batter of the game. 

Strickland pitched a complete game and only gave up four hits while striking out eight in route to her ninth win of the season. 

Danielle de Ruiter was the only batter in the game to collect multiple hits as she went 2-for-2 with a run scored, walk and RBI.

Game two proved to be a high scoring affair that the Pirates were able to hold onto for a 13-9 win. 

The Pirates used an RBI single from Madison Marshall to kick off the scoring in the first inning. They extended the lead to 4-0 in the second inning thanks to run scoring singles from de Ruiter and Kaeleen Koehler. 

Neither team added to the scoreboard until Koehler and Alexis Guzman smashed back-to-back home runs in the fourth to make it 6-0. The Pirates used a bases loaded walk to push one more run across before going into the fifth inning.

In the fifth, Northwest strung together a couple of walks and base hits to plate four runs making it a 7-4 game. The Pirates answered back in the bottom half of the inning when Koehler drove in the teams eighth run and a double from Marshall pushed across the ninth run. 

The top of the sixth proved troublesome for the Pirates and Northwest was able to pull even 9-9 thanks to a costly dropped fly ball. 

With the pressure on the Pirates were able to rise to the occasion in their bottom half of the inning. A walk, single and fielder's choice helped PSC load the bases and de Ruiter picked up a sacrifice fly to give the Pirates a 10-9 lead. A single from Koehler drove in two more runs when it got by the right fielder to make it 12-9 before the scoring was rounded out with an RBI single off the bat of Guzman. 

Koehler took over pitching duties in the top of the seventh and easily took care of the three batters she faced to end the game. 

The Pirates pounded out sixteen hits in the game with Koehler and Guzman both collecting three and a home run. All 10 of PSC's players that got at bat's in the game reached base safely while nine of them picked up hits in the game. 

The next game for PSC is scheduled for Saturday, March 17 at Chipola.