LEESBURG, Fla. (Softball) – Behind 21 hits, 17 runs scored and zero errors defensively, Lake-Sumter State College (LSSC) softball entered the 2023 season with a bang with back-to-back one-hit shutouts over Georgia Highlands College (GHC) on Friday afternoon. Ali Shenefield recorded the win for game one while Darian Pippin took game two.
Game 1 – Lake-Sumter 7, Georgia Highlands 0
The first three innings went by quick defensively with Shenefield striking out five of the first nine GHC batters.
The Lakehawks found homeplate for the first time in the third innings as Reese Snipes blasted a double to left center to score Tatum McGrath. Raquel Camuglia followed with another double to right center to score Snipes from second.
Up to the fourth inning, Shenefield was maintaining a no-hitter. GHC's second baseman Alli Deweese managed a double off the sophomore hurler but it did not gain much ground for the Chargers.
The Lakehawks added two more runs in the fourth after sophomore Makenzi Heaton led off with a deep double to left field. Alex Baez came up with a bunt for a base hit to advance, pinch runner for Heaton, Kiara Smith to third.
Bella Baez singled to center to score Smith and give the Lakehawks a 3-0 lead. GHC made a pitching switch but the damage had already been done.
Keeping the ball down and hard with runners in scoring position, the Lakehawks were able to extend their lead to 7-0.
LSSC took game one against GHC in the top of the seventh inning. Shenefield registered the shutout win to move to 1-0 on the season while recording 10 strikeouts and allowing just one hit.
Game 2 – Lake-Sumter 10, Georgia Highlands 0
Game two started the same defensively for the Lakehawks with junior pitcher Pippin dominating the mound for the first three innings.
Offensively, the Lakehawks jumped on the Chargers in the first inning. With smart baserunning and two extra basehits, the Lakehawks managed three runs to cross the plate.
Snipes led off the bottom of the third with a line drive double to right. Desiree Romeo comes up with her second big hit to right field to score Snipes from second base.
Alexis Adams drew a walk and Emily Gable entered the game to pinch run for Adams. Kreighten Steinke lays down a perfect bunt to advance Romeo and Gable to third and second respectively.
A. Baez reaches first on a hit-by-pitch, then a pass ball advanced all runners allowing Romeo to score.
The Lakehawks added two more runs in the fourth starting with Bender launching her first collegiate homerun to dead center. Snipes tried to follow Bender with a ball of the left center fence the very next but was still able to leg out a triple.
Camuglia and Romeo drew back-to-back walks to bring up Adams with bases loaded. A couple more hard ground balls made the Charger defense falter and the Lakehawks managed two more runs from a bases loaded situation.
Pippin's no-hitter was broken up in the top of the fourth with a two-out single to right field by GHC's first baseman Abigail Lathrop. Pippin silenced the Charger offense for the remainder of the game.
The Lakehawks added two more runs in the fourth with singles from Steinke and A. Baez to bring the Lakehawks lead to 10-0. The game concluded by mercy rule after a three-up-three-down fifth inning.
Head Coach Jay Miller was fired up after today's wins, "Back-to-back shutouts with our pitching combining to give up just two hits was incredible, but you cannot win without scoring runs and our hitters backed them up from start to finish. The defense was on par as well.
I am extremely happy for the girls; they are the ones who put in the work to get these results" said Coach Miller.
Former Lakehawk pitcher turned Lakehawk pitching coach Abbey Primavera joined Coach Miller on the other side of the chalk for the first time today. "Whoever I give the ball to, I never have to worry whether or not they are going to compete. I put my trust in all of them and they all put the trust in each other," said Coach Abbey
Pippin tossed her third complete-game shutout of her career at LSSC in game two moving to 1-0 on the year.
Up next for the Lakehawks
The Lakehawks will travel down to Clearwater, Fla. tomorrow Saturday, January 27th to play in the annual JUCO Classic. Game one will be at 1:30 p.m. against College of Central Florida and game two will follow at 4:00 p.m. against Eastern Florida State College.
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