Leesburg, Fla. – The first weekend of the Mid-Florida Conference schedule is in the books and Lake-Sumter State College sits at 3-1.
The club opened up with St. John's River State College on Thursday. Darian Pippin threw well, but took the 4-0 loss in the circle. Randa Motsinger and Jeritza Montero were responsible for the offense in game one, collecting one hit each.
Game two was unlike any pitching performance LSSC had ever seen. Amber Griffin took the ball for the Lakehawks and proceeded to mow the Vikings down one-by-one. This continued for several innings before she allowed the first runner to reach base on a walk in the top of the fourth. LSSC took a 1-0 lead, along with Griffin's no-hitter, into the bottom of the seventh. After an unearned run tied it up at 1-1, the game went into extra innings with the no-no still intact.
The SJRSC leadoff batter took a 1-2 pitch and shot a ground ball threw the left side in the top of the eighth inning for the first hit of the game off of Griffin. The righty retired the next three batters to keep the contest knotted at 1-1. Reese Snipes reached on a fielder's choice and made her way over to third base. Montero hit a hard shot to third base that was misplayed by the third baseman, allowing Snipes to score the winning run.
Griffin's final line score started with no hits through seven innings pitched. She finished with a complete game (8 innings), having given up one hit and no earned runs in the 2-1 victory. Morgan Johnson was 3 for 4 on the day with the two RBI's coming from Montero and Alyssa Opsahl.
Saturday was the second conference double-header, this time at Seminole State College. Game one was a hard-fought, low scoring affair. In the end, SSC took game one, 4-1. Pippin went the distance for the complete game loss in a solid pitching performance. The lone run came off the bat of Motsinger who drove in Kierston Smith in the top of the fourth inning.
The second game was not as close with Seminole State walking away with a 10-1 victory in five innings. Griffin took the loss while Kreighton Steinke led the offense with a two-hit performance.
Lake-Sumter (20-18, 1-3) will head to Gainesville to take on Santa Fe College (20-12, 2-2) Tuesday.