NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (Softball) – The Lake-Sumter State College (LSSC) softball team traveled to Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC) on Tuesday afternoon to open Sun-Lakes Conference play. The Lakehawks took two from the Bobcats to maintain their current first place spot in the standings so far.
Game One – Lake-Sumter 3, Pasco-Hernando 0
Game one was a pitcher's duel from the beginning. Pasco-Hernando had just four hits while the Lakehawks had seven including a two-run homerun that became the game winner.
It was a zero-zero ball game the entire way until the eighth. Mia Lovett led off the top of the frame with a single to left.
Bella Baez entered the game to pinch run for Lovett. Alex Baez placed a sacrifice bunt to move B. Baez to second.
Molly Bender stepped up just in time to blast a two-run homerun to dead center field, her sixth of the season.
Rese Snipes came up next with a single to keep the rally going. Then Raquel Camuglia scored Snipes on a single to left bringing the score to 3-0.
Pasco-Hernando tried to start something in the bottom of the seventh but the Lakehawk pitching and defense held the Bobcats to zero.
Sophomore Ali Shenefield recorded the complete-game shutout win in game one. In eight innings, she gave up just four hits and one walk while fanning nine Bobcat batters.
Game Two – Lake-Sumter 7, Pasco-Hernando 6
Game two was a much closer game, the two teams going back and forth with the Lakehawks eventually securing the come-from-behind win.
Lake-Sumter took the lead in the first after Bender hit an opposite field triple and scored on a pass ball, but Pasco-Hernando immediately took the lead back in the bottom half of the frame to lead 3-1.
The Lakehawks tied the game in the third after Kreighton Steinke scored two on an infield base hit.
In the top of the fifth, Bender led off with a walk, then Camuglia and Steinke followed with back-to-back doubles score two taking the lead back 5-3.
Pasco-Hernando added one in the fifth and two in the sixth to take a one-run lead headed to the seventh inning.
Bender led off the seventh, reaching on an error by the third baseman. After Snipes reached on a walk, Camuglia one-bounced the left center fence scoring two and taking the lead back once again.
The Lakehawks held the Bobcats in the bottom of the seventh to secure the 7-6 win and first conference series sweep of the season.
Darian Pippin threw the first five innings, allowing six runs on eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Shenefield entered the game in relief for Pippin mid-inning in the sixth to close the game and record the win.
Shenefield etched her name in the Lakehawk softball record books with the win on the mound in game two. Her thirteenth of the season was good enough to top the single season in category passed former Lakehawk Melissa Webb (2014).
Shenefield is also making her way through several record book other categories. She is now fourth for strikeouts in a single season with 90 and she ties for fifth in complete games in a single season with nine.
The Lakehawks improved to 27-11 overall and 2-0 in conference play. Pasco-Hernando fell to 18-8 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Up next for the Lakehawks
The Lakehawks will host Trinity Baptist College on Thursday, Mar. 23 at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. Live stream video will be available to those who cannot attend.
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