Lakehawks Head into the Final Stretch

Leesburg, Fla. – With the first round of conference play in the books, the Lake-Sumter State College softball team will look to continue their strong play in a push for a postseason opportunity.

The Mid-Florida Conference started off with a double-header against the then No. 1 team in the nation, College of Central Florida. The Patriots swept the double header by scores of 12-1 and 10-7. LSSC bounced back in a big way scoring 11 runs on 11 hits to take down Daytona State College 11-8 in game one, before falling in game two, 4-1.

A sweep at home over St. John's River State College 4-3 and 8-0, put the Lakehawks back to .500 in the conference schedule. Next on the schedule was a trip up north to take on Florida State College – Jacksonville. The bats broke out for a 12-2 victory in game one. Game two was much closer. After going up 6-0 in the fourth inning, LSSC won the game on an RBI single from Jeritza Montero in the top of the eighth to give her team the 7-6 victory.

Santa Fe College came into Leesburg boasting a 7-1 record in conference and took down Lake-Sumter 10-7. An amazing pitching performance by Amber Griffin in game two led to a complete game shutout and 3-0 victory for her ball club. Griffin threw a season high 133 pitches in the win.

Less than 24 hours later, the Lakehawks found themselves back on the diamond to take on Seminole State College. A make-up game from earlier in the season. Game one was tightly contested and tied after four innings, 3-3. The Raiders grabbed two runs in the bottom of the sixth and held on for the 5-3 win. LSSC struck first in game two, plating four runs in the top of the first inning. They would go on to add three more in the fourth and win the game, 7-3. Griffin picked up her second win in as many days tossing the final five innings against the No. 19 team in the country.

As the first round comes to an end, the Lakehawks find themselves in third place in the conference with an overall record of 27-13 and a MFC record of 7-5. The team sits two games behind Santa Fe for second and three games behind Central Florida for first. In the latest top 10 state poll, Lake-Sumter came in eighth and is the fourth team from the Mid-Florida Conference on the list.

Since conference play began, Genesis Aviles has been on a tear batting .435 with eight RBIs and an on-base percentage of .536. Fellow sophomore, Emily Kolwicz has collected 16 hits in 12 games and scored 11 times. In her last four outings, Griffin has tossed 23 innings with a 1.83 ERA to go along with an opponent's batting average of .219 and a 2-0 record.

Lake-Sumter will host No. 3 Central Florida on Thursday. Game one slated for 2 pm. Live stats will be available, but there will be no live stream for this contest.