Softball team splits doubleheader, sets season win record

The Eastern Florida State College softball team split a doubleheader on Tuesday to win their 41^st game of the season.

The 41 wins is a program record for the Titans who defeated No. 6 Santa Fe 8-5 in the second game of the Citrus Conference doubleheader. The win also moves the Titans into third place in the conference standings heading into the FCSAA Division I Softball Championships.

Santa Fe won the first game 4-2 and finished in second place in the conference.

After falling in Game 1, the Titans came out swinging in Game 2, scoring four times in the top of the first inning.

With two outs, Avery Velazquez was hit by a pitch and then Jaelynne Whipple doubled. Madison Velazquez was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kerissa Howell worked a walk to score Avery Velazquez and give the Titans a 1-0 lead. Then Isabel Otero stepped up and ripped a three-run double to make it 4-0.

It would stay that way until the fourth inning when Santa Fe College would rally to tie using the long ball. Mckenzie Cox hit a solo home run to start the fourth and then with two on, Ellie Frierson hit the first pitch she saw for a three-run home run to tie the game.

But the Titans would come right back as Avery Velazquez crushed a ball over the left field fence for her 12th home run. Whipple would single and score and Madison Velazquez would walk and later score to give the Titans a 7-4 lead. It remained 7-4 until the top of the seventh inning when Kerissa Howell led off with a home run, her fifth on the season.

Cox would hit her second home run of the game in the bottom of the seventh.

Aracelis Jimenez, Avery Velazquez, Whipple, Howell and Otero each had two hits in the game. Avery Velazquez came into the game in the fifth and finished it, picking up the save.

In the first game Santa Fe scored two runs in both the first and second innings and held on.

Starting pitcher Avery Velazquez settled down and retired 12 of the final 13 hitters she faced.

Down 2-0 in the second inning, Jaelynne Whipple led off with a single and scored on Kerissa Howell's single. The Titans would cut the lead to 4-2 when Howell led off with a triple and scored on pinch hitter Brooklyn Scott's RBI single.

Howell finished 2-3 in the game.

"This group has etched their names in a lot of the record books this year but as a head coach to see them love up on each other and keep to our goals have been amazing. It's special to coach this group and see the growth day in and day out and see the work turn into the success we're having," Eastern Florida State College softball coach Andrew Zeger said. "The 41 feels good and we will enjoy it tonight but now our focus is Clearwater and one game at a time. We're all going in at 0-0 and we have put ourselves in a great position to take the Titans to their first national championship bid."

Eastern Florida State College will open the FCSAA Division I Softball Championships on May 13 in Clearwater. It is the third straight season that the Titans have clinched a spot in the tournament.