(Box Score) (Box Score 2)
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (March 22, 2023) – Florida National University’s softball team racked up two more wins versus the visiting St. Ambrose Fighting Bees. The Conquistadors stayed the course in two competitive games for 4-3 wins in each contest and has now secured victories in 15 of its last 19 games.
In the opening, FNU tied up the game 1-1 on a homer to left-center from Megen Johnson. In the second, a Fighting Bee single ended in another run for St. Ambrose. With a 2-1 St. Ambrose lead, FNU took control in the fourth with a three-run, three-hit inning, as a double from Janessa Esquibel scored Johnson. Esquibel would score a few plays later on an error from the Fighting Bees’ second baseman. Ana De Oliveira Obando got the final score of the frame heading into the fifth.
St. Ambrose looked to keep the game going in the seventh, as a pinch runner scored on a single to the right side. FNU pitcher Dakota Kulis was brilliant from the circle down the stretch, earning the game-clinching strikeout for the 4-3 win in game one.
In game two, St. Ambrose got off to a hot start, with a three-RBI homer to left center. This three-run, three-hit inning would be the total of the Fighting Bees’ runs scored. FNU got to work in the second, chipping away at the St. Ambrose lead, as Sydni Bigelli singled up the middle for a Tara McCaffery score. McCaffery scored once again at the bottom of the fourth on an error from the Bees’ third baseman.
The game was leveled at 3-3 on a double to left center that pushed pinch runner Alexis Lendo into home during the sixth. Pitcher Jona Goolsby did just enough in the top of the final inning, to set up a high-pressure bottom of the seventh. The game-defining moment for the Conquistadors came courtesy of a triple from Esquibel. Sitting at third, the Bees intentionally walked the next two FNU batters but Esquibel saw the right opportunity to slide into home as McCaffery was flied out at left field.
Up Next: FNU softball looks to sweep its season series versus Keiser with a noon doubleheader on March 25.
