MELBOURNE, Fla.—The 19th ranked Barry Buccaneers split a Sunshine State Conference softball doubleheader with the Florida Tech Panthers on Saturday at Nancy Bottge Field, winning the first game 6-1 in eight innings, but dropping game two 1-0.
The Bucs (30-13, 14-6 SSC) held onto first place in the league despite the loss as second-place Tampa fell twice to Nova Southeastern.
Barry got on the board in game one in the first inning. Alayna Gallagher had an infield single with one out and Julie Brito cashed her in with a double down the left field line.
The Panthers (33-15, 12-8 SSC) knotted the game at 1-1 on an RBI single by Bridget Godfrey in the third.
The game stayed tied until the top of the eighth inning thanks to stellar pitching by both Barry's Haley Wiseman (16-6) and Florida Tech's Rachel Pence (20-12).
But in the eighth, the Buccaneers broke out the bats, rattling off six straight hits to start the inning. The big blow was a three-run, inside the park homer for Gallagher that Tech's Jessica Callahan dove for and missed. Gallagher circled the bases with Hunter Mars and Megan Copeland scoring ahead of her.
Dee Espinosa, who went 2-for-3, had a pair of doubles to break the Bucs' single season record set in 2006 by Amanda Goelz. She now has 23 on the season.
Wiseman earned the win, holding the Panthers to an unearned run on just one hit. She walked two and struck out 10. Pence, who faced six batters in the eighth, took the loss, allowing six runs on 10 hits and a walk. She struck out four.
In the second game, the Panthers worked a double steal in the sixth inning for the only run. Taylor Smith (11-3) worked the three-hit shutout, walking two and striking out two for the win. Taylor Sabol (9-6) took the loss for the Bucs. She worked three innings in relief of Wiseman, who started, allowing a run on three hits and a walk.
Megan Copeland had two of the Bucs' three hits.
The series concludes on Sunday at noon.
