MIAMI SHORES, Fla.—The Barry Buccaneer edged the Florida Tech Panthers 6-4 on Friday night at Buccaneer Field to run their Sunshine State Conference softball record to 4-0 on the season.

Barry's Geneva Santos (7-1) and Tech's Rachel Pence (13-4) locked up in a pitching duel early on, keeping the game scoreless into the bottom of the fifth inning.

But the Buccaneers (9-5, 4-0 SSC) batted around off Pence and reliever Amanda Kahn in the frame. Alayna Gallagher and Sam Busekrus had infield hits to lead off and Kayla Ogle reached on a fielder's choice as Gallgaher was safe on a error by third baseman Lexi Smith. Megan Copeland reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Gallagher from third to break the ice. Cheyanne Head put down a perfect squeeze to score Busekrus and reached on the play. Both Copeland and Head scored on a single up the middle by Dee Espinosa.

The Bucs tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth that proved to be crucial. After letting the Bucs load the bases on a walk to Gallagher and singles for Busekrus and Ogle, the Panthers (17-6, 3-1 SSC) got two ground balls to shortstop Krista Patterson that erased Gallagher and Busekrus at the plate. But Espinosa and Pazienza drew walks to force in a pair.

In the seventh, the Panthers finally struck back as Emily York belted a grand slam over the center field wall to cut the lead to 6-4. But Santos settled down to strike out Hailey Leonard and get Ashley Montion to fly out to end the game.

Santos, who struggled with control all night, walked eight and gave up six hits, but held the Panthers scoreless until the seventh. Pence took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks in 4.1 innings.

Ogle, Santos and Busekrus each had two hits for the Bucs, while Copeland scored twice and Espinosa drove in three. Nicole Shinsky and York each had two hits for the Panthers, with York driving in all four runs.

The series concludes on Saturday at noon with a doubleheader.