Gainesville. FL

Santa Fe and #20 Eastern Florida State College squred off and split the series 1-1 on Thursday afternoon. This conference matchup was a tale of two games, here's what happened:

Eastern Florida took Game 1 in a very pitching heavy contest. Eastern Florida came out of the gate strong tallying three hits in as many innings but Santa Fe Starting Pitcher Ryleigh Bauer was able to hold them scoreless. The Saints first hit of the day came in the bottom of the 4th with a Madison Conway leadoff double, and she advanced to third base by way of sacrifice bunt by McKenzie Jewell. The Saints bats were unable to cash in the run and the score remained 0-0 after 4 innings. In the 6th inning, Eastern Florida looked to break the scoreless tie and was able to score two runs after a two out base hit dropped in between center and right field. Santa Fe trailed 2-0 after 6 innings and held the Titans scoreless in the 7th frame. Now was time for Santa Fe's last inning of offense and Brooke Markiewicz started it off with a leadoff walk. Sydney English followed with a single to advance Markiewicz to second but the Saints went down in order after that and dropped Game 1,  2-0. 

Game 2 of the doubleheader was a much more active and offensive game, as Santa Fe was able to score 10 runs and record 8 hits in a 10-2 run-rule victory in 6 innings. It was not all going the Saints way, however, as Eastern Florida jumped out to an 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning. The Titans were able to add another run in the third inning to take the game to 2-0 after a couple of defensive errors cost the Saints.  The Saints scored their first run of the day in the bottom of the third ining after Teagan Grizzard stole third base; the throw from the Eastern Florida catcher hit the batter in the helmet and the ball rolled to the backstop allowing Grizzard to advance two bases and score. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Santa Fe was able to eventually take the lead after Grizzard bunted for a hit, Karris Rhine singled and Markiewicz hit her second sacrifice fly of the game to take a 3-2 advantage. The Saints never looked back at this stage, scoring the game's final 10 runs after an explosive 7-run 6th inning, pushing the lead to 10-2 and seal the run-rule victory. With this win, Santa Fe knocks off the #20 Titans in Game 2 and snaps a seven-game losing streak. Two Saints had multi-hit games, while Brooke Markiewicz drove in 4 runs in the win. 

Santa Fe will be on the road this Saturday, March 1st at 1:00 and 3:00 PM as they take on Polk State in Winter Haven, Florida.