Titans Drop Tournament Opener 5-4

Eastern Florida's softball team came up just short in Friday's opening round of the NJCAA District/FCSAA Tournament, falling 5-4 to Gulf Coast State College.

The loss at Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach dropped the Titans into the loser's bracket where they play Florida State College Jacksonville at 4 p.m. today. The loser is eliminated.

The Titans trailed 5-0 and were hitless heading into the sixth inning against Gulf Coast sophomore right-hander Alison Mitts.

But they strung together three straight hits including freshman Karli Smith's three-run home run to leftfield that scored sophomores Natasha Kistler and Taylor Zitiello. The blast made it 5-3 with no outs but Mitts pitched her way out of the jam.

The Titans rallied again in the bottom of the seventh as Kistler's double scored classmate Katie Darrah who had singled.

Kistler got as far as third base on Smith's fly out to deep centerfield but the Titans couldn't muster another hit.

The Titans, who finished second in the FCSAA Southern Conference to make their 12^th straight tournament appearance, fell to 24-29 overall.

They finished with six hits, two by Kistler.

Gulf Coast, which finished third in the Panhandle Conference, improved to 32-16.

"We've got to battle now, there's no tomorrow," said Eastern Florida assistant coach Bob Yanczewski.

"The tomorrow is today. Play like they did in the first game but maybe get to the hitting earlier than we did in the first game and we'll go from there.

"She (Mitts) had us baffled for the first five innings. We adjusted a little bit. We had our chances."

Sophomore Alexa Snyder, who allowed nine hits, took the loss.

Jacksonville lost its opener 12-5 to Florida Southwestern. Jacksonville, which finished fourth in the Mid-Florida Conference, fell to 33-17.