ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—The Barry University Buccaneers swept a Sunshine State Conference softball doubleheader from the Eckerd College Tritons 5-3 and 4-3 on Friday night at the Turley Complex.
In the first game, the Bucs (16-13, 10-7 SSC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held on for the 5-3 win, despite issuing 13 walks.
Kayla Ogle and Megan Copeland both scored in the first inning. Ogle walked and stole second. After an infield single for Copeland, Cheyanne Head moved both with a sacrifice. Dee Espinosa drove in Ogle with a sacrifice fly and Sam Busekrus brought in Copeland with a clutch single to center.
Copeland had the big blow in the fourth inning, knocking in Geneva Santos, Alayna Gallagher and Ogle with a two-out, bases-clearing double off Triton starter Nicole Van Gennep (14-10).
Santos (10-6) was "effectively" wild in five scoreless innings. She only allowed one hit and struck out two, but walked seven. After Lynsey Duncan gave up three runs on three hits and six walks in 1.2 innings, Anieliese Palmeiro came on to strike out Carrie Shere with the bases loaded for her third save.
Van Gennep took the loss for the Tritons, allowing five runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks in 3.2 innings.
In game two, the Bucs again knocked around Van Gennep, rapping out 12 hits off the freshman and scoring four runs in a 4-3 win.
Ogle again got things started for the Bucs. She singled to left-center and scored when Triton third baseman Chelsea Armstrong threw the ball away at first on a ground ball by Head. Espinosa followed with a double to left-center to score Head and came around herself on a single by Busekrus.
Palmeiro (6-3) made those first inning runs stand up into the sixth inning. Kaycie Duncan touched her for two runs in the fifth on her fourth homer of the year. But despite five walks and four hits in 5.2 innings, those were the only runs she allowed. She gave way to Santos with the bases loaded in the sixth and Santos got Brittany Martinez to ground out to end the rally.
In the seventh inning, Espinosa and Duncan had back-to-back two-out doubles to score an all-important insurance run as the Tritons scored one of their own in the bottom of the frame.
Santos picked up her first save of the season with 1.1 innings in relief. She allowed an RBI single to Van Gennep in the seventh.
Busekrus had five hits on eight at-bats and drove in two. Copeland had four hits, all in game one, and three RBI on that fourth-inning double. Duncan also had four hits, including two doubles, in the twin bill.
Saturday's single game to close the series has been moved up to 9:00 am to try and avoid the impending weather expected in the Bay area.
