Mercer University
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North Fla.
Bears' Sweep Spoiled at North Florida
3/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
After taking game one 9-3, the Mercer softball team looked poised for a sweep of North Florida in Saturday's Atlantic Sun doubleheader. However, the Bears were unable to hold onto a late 2-0 lead in game two and ended up splitting on the day.
The Ospreys spoiled the Bears' hopes by scoring two runs in the sixth and the one in the seventh innings, including a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to win 3-2 in game two.
With Mercer(17-13, 1-4 A-Sun) maintaining a one-run lead in the bottom of the sixth, UNF's Jackie Reese hit a soft grounder to short and was called safe on a controversial play at first. The play would have been the third out of the inning, but instead resulted in the Ospreys scoring the game-tying run from third.
After the Bears were unable to score in the top half of the seventh, UNF's Caroline Torre promptly took a first pitch offering from Bears' senoir pitcher Kari Chambers and hit a walk-off homerun to right field.
The loss somewhat overshadowed an otherwise productive and eventful afternoon for the Bears. A day after the team recorded just six hits in two games against Jacksonville, the Bears came alive and recoded 18 hits and 11 runs against the Ospreys.
In game one, Mercer put up eight runs in the sixth to cruise to their first A-Sun victory of 2011. Seven players had hits in the game including senior second baseman Amanda Santa Maria.
The Yorba Linda, Calif. native had a solid weekend and on Saturday hit a grand slam, accounting for four of the Bears eight runs in the sixth. It was her third-career home run first since April 3, 2009 against Florida Gulf Coast. She ended the doubleheader going 3-for-5 with four RBI.
Coming off her impressive nine-inning performance against Jacksonville, senior pitcher Jenni Holtz maintained her momentum and recorded her ninth win of the season in game one. Holtz threw her sixth complete game of the season and struck out seven batters in the process. She is now just 23 strikeouts shy of 900 for her career.
The Bears top half of the lineup was impressive on Saturday after falling into somewhat of a slump recently. Senior Anna Johnson and McKenzie Woody both had two hits and an RBI in game one and were active on the base pads recording their 19th and 14th stolen bases on the year. Woody finished 4-for-8 on the day with 3 RBI.
The Bears have another short turn around between games as the team heads to Tallahassee, Fla. for a mid-week doubleheader against Florida St. on Wednesday. Mercer added the Seminoles to the 2011 schedule after several ran outs earlier in the year. First pitch on Wednesday is slated for 4 p.m.
