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Box Score 2 WINTER HAVEN — Polk State Softball celebrated Sophomore Day with a doubleheader sweep of Hillsborough Community College on Saturday.
Polk State opened the day with a thrilling 5-4 walk-off victory. It was freshman
Leia Hurst who played the role of hero.
The Eagles were in command for most of the game, but getting the last out proved difficult. Polk State took a 4-1 lead into the top of the seventh.
Dee Allen was one out from ending it but the Hawks drew even with consecutive RBI doubles from Daijah Madry and Kennedy Howard.
It took the Eagles just three pitches to walk it off in the bottom of the inning.
Jamie Reinhardt tripled on the first Hillsborough pitch of the inning. Hurst followed by belting a 1-0 pitch into centerfield for the walk-off single.
Polk State scored a run in each of the first three innings.
Chelsi Rae' Hebert singled home a run in the first;
Veronica Fernandez hit her second home run of the year in the second;
Nayeli Hernandez scored on a Hurst sacrifice fly in the third.
Hillsborough got on the board with a run in the fourth.
Savannah Jacobs extended the Polk lead to 4-1 with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Despite the rough seventh, Allen picked up the win. She allowed just a run on four hits through the first six innings. Allen recorded five strikeouts.
Hebert had two of the six Polk State hits. Fernandez and Hernandez each scored twice.
Polk State took the second game in a five-inning run-rule, 12-4.
Hillsborough Community took the early lead with two runs in the top of the first but Polk State answered with four runs in the bottom of the frame to go in front for good.
Silvia Franzoni's three-run double gave the Eagles the lead before she scored on an RBI double from
Tessa Anderson.
Polk State extended its lead to 6-2 in the second. After Jacobs led off the inning with a solo homer, Hurst added a sacrifice fly.
The Hawks cut the lead in half with two runs in the fourth but the Eagles ended it with a six-run fifth. Hurst again put the game away. She clinched the run-rule victory and a four-RBI game with a bases-clearing double.
Reinhardt, Franzoni, Fernandez, and Jacobs each finished with two hits. Hernandez scored three runs. Belen Gomez homered for Hillsborough in the loss.
With the wins, the Eagles moved back over .500 at 25-24 and improved to 12-18 in Citrus Conference play. They'll remain home to take on No. 10 Daytona State College in a doubleheader on Tuesday.
