MIAMI SHORES, Fla.—The Barry Buccaneers face off against the Tampa Spartans looking to reverse the trend from last year's Sunshine State Conference softball series on Friday and Saturday. Due to weather concerns, the games have shifted to a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 4:00 pm and a single game on Saturday at 10:00 am.
Last season, the Spartans took two of the three games, giving them the tie-breaker over the Bucs and lifting them to the conference title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
This season, the Bucs (12-9, 6-3 SSC) and Spartans (11-8, 4-5 SSC) find themselves in the middle of the conference pack, with the Bucs in fourth place and the Spartans in fifth.
The Bucs are lead, again, by 2015 SSC Player of the Year, Dee Espinosa. The senior catcher is third in the league in batting (.423) and first in slugging percentage (.717), on-base percentage (.558) and RBI (29). She also leads the conference in runners caught stealing (9) and stolen base percentage (.591).
Junior designated player Cheyanne Head (.429) and senior centerfielder Kayla Ogle (.400) are also near the top of the batting charts. Head, who was named national player of the week earlier this season, is third on the team with 12 RBI and seven stolen bases. Ogle is tied for the league lead with 25 runs scored and 22 stolen bases.
Senior leftfielder Megan Copeland is fourth on the team in batting at .375 and second on the team with 16 runs scored and 14 RBI. Freshman second baseman Sam Busekrus is fifth in batting at .373.
Freshman Anieliese Palmeiro and sophomore Geneva Santos have handled the bulk of the pitching duties. Palmiero is 4-2 with a 2.59 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 51.1 innings. She also has the Bucs' lone save on the season. Santos is 8-4 with a 2.77 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 68.1 innings.
Sophomore Sahrina Cortes is second in the league in batting (.435) and leads the Spartans with 13 runs scored. Freshman Makaleigh Dooley has been a two-way star for the Spartans. She is batting .420 with 11 RBI, both second on the team. In the circle, she is 5-3 with a 1.95 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 61.0 innings. Senior Alyssa Bache is also performing on both sides. She is batting just .233, but leads the club with six doubles and 12 RBI. In the circle, she is 6-4 with a 2.78 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 75.2 innings.
Barry leads the all-time series 71-38 including three of the last five. However since 2011, Tampa has won 11 of 18.
