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Box Score 2 TAMPA — Polk State Softball has its first Citrus Conference road win of the season. After dropping the first game of the doubleheader on Friday night, the Eagles bounced back to run-rule Hillsborough Community College in the second game in five innings, 13-3.
The teams traded runs in the first inning before Polk State opened it up with a five-run second inning. After
Jamie Reinhardt drew a bases-loaded walk to put Polk State ahead for good,
Chelsi Rae' Hebert delivered the big blow with a bases-clearing triple.
Silvia Franzoni's RBI triple got the scoring started during a four-run fourth for the Eagles. Hebert,
Leia Hurst, and
Natalie Hiles followed with RBI singles later in the frame as the lead ballooned to 10-1.
In the circle, Reinhardt was solid. The sophomore from Orlando allowed three runs on five hits in five innings to earn the win.
The Hawks were finally able to get the bats going in the fourth as they scored a pair of runs. In the top of the fifth, the Eagles answered with three runs, highlighted by a two-run double by Hebert.
Karyna Lewis doubled her home later in the inning.
Hebert, the redshirt sophomore from Louisiana, finished 4-for-4 with six RBIs and three runs scored. Hurst finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Franzoni also had two hits, an RBI, and three runs.
The 13 runs is the most scored by Polk State in conference play this season as the Eagles secured their first run-rule win in conference. Hailey Margetis finished with a run scored and an RBI for Hillsborough Community.
Polk State fought valiantly in the first game but was unable to overcome a big early deficit. The Eagles dropped the contest, 8-6.
A two-run double by Belen Gomez and an RBI double from Margetis served as the big blows as Hillsborough opened the scoring with a six-run third inning. The Eagles were able to creep back into the contest with three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth.
Lewis singled home the first run for the Eagles before
Makenzie Foster plated another with an RBI double two pitches later. Lewis later scored on an RBI groundout from
Silvia Franzoni.
Leia Hurst came through in the fifth with a two-run double.
With the score 6-5, the Hawks were able to answer with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on Vanessa Neptune's two-run double. Foster led off the sixth with a solo home run, but the Eagles could get no closer.
Polk State was plagued by shoddy defense as five errors led to seven unearned runs. At the plate, Hurst and Foster each finished with two hits and two RBIs in the loss. Hebert added two hits of her own.
With two top-10 wins under its belt already this season, Polk State will play another nationally ranked opponent on Tuesday when it visits Daytona State College. The first game is scheduled for 2 p.m.
