Florida Tech Panther’s Sports Roundup
By Florida Tech // March 10, 2014
Men’s Golf Back in Action Today in Valdosta
After having a month off from competition, the Florida Tech Panthers return to the course on Monday at the First Federal Southeastern Collegiate. The two-day, three-round event, is hosted by Valdosta State University at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club.
The Panthers entered the latest Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches’ Poll for the first time this season at No. 19. The squad has played in two tournaments so far this spring.
The Panthers had teams finish fifth and ninth at the Titan Winter Invitational, and also placed fifth at the Matlock Collegiate Classic.
Eighteen teams are set to compete at the Southeastern Collegiate.
Along with the Panthers, Sunshine State Conference participants include: No. 1 Barry, No. 2 Lynn, No. 15 Florida Southern, Rollins, Saint Leo, and Eckerd. Barry returns as the defending team champion, and Tim Crouch of Florida Southern returns as the defending individual champion.
The first two rounds of the Southeastern Collegiate will be played Monday beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET. A final round will be played Tuesday, and live scoring will be available on Florida Tech’s website courtesy of Valdosta State.
Panthers Softball Open Seven-Game Homestand Monday
Following a 5-2 road trip, the Florida Tech softball team begins a seven-game homestand on Monday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader against the Dutch National Team at Nancy Bottge Field. It will be the second time FIT has played a national team in four seasons as it opposed the Argentinian National Team in Buenos Aires in 2011.
FIT is 18-8 overall and 4-2 in Sunshine State Conference play after winning its second straight conference series at Eckerd on Saturday.
Pitching was one of the bright spots throughout the series as Rachel Pence and Taylor Smith combined to allow five runs, four were earned, in 21 innings. Pence is 10-4 on the season with a 1.52 ERA, good for fourth in the SSC. Smith is 6-4 and is sixth in the SSC with a 1.74 ERA.
The Panthers pounded 10 hits in Saturday’s series finale. Eight of their starters had at least one hit each.
Kelsey Donahue finished the doubleheader with three hits and is now batting a team-best .343 on the season. She is one of four regulars batting at .300 or better with the other three being Elaine Brown(.316), Brigit Godfrey (.312) and Amanda Bueno (.300).
The Dutch National Team is in the midst of a 25-day trip that includes 25 games in 20 days. It is off to a 4-0-1 start following wins over St. John’s (9-6), Toledo (4-1) and Hillsborough Community College (10-1 and 19-2). On Saturday against Hillsborough, the squad totaled 27 hits and four were home runs.Britt Vonk, a redshirt senior at Cal, arrived just in time for the doubleheader and hit two of the home runs, one was a grand slam.
On Sunday, the Dutch will take on Cleveland State and Providence.
Following Monday’s twinbill, the Panthers will host No. 14 Wayne State (Mich.) in a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday. The Warriors are 10-2 on the season and are just beginning their week-long Florida trip.
They split their first two games in Winter Haven on Saturday, falling to Minnesota State-Mankato 5-1 and rebounding with a 9-0 win in six innings against Northern State.
Through their first 10 games, Emily Bryce was leading all regulars with a .379 batting average.
She was tied with Logan White for the team lead with 11 hits. White had one of the team’s two steals in its first 10 games.
Lyndsay Butler and Briana Lee have been terrific for the Warriors on the rubber. Through 10 games, Butler was 5-0 with a 0.19 ERA in five starts. Lee was 4-0 with a 0.45 ERA. The duo combined for 93 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched.
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