| Final: USF 8, Georgetown 1 |
| |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
| Georgetown (9-31) (3-5) |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-- |
-- |
1 |
3 |
5 |
| USF (27-15) (7-0) |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
X |
-- |
-- |
8 |
13 |
2 |
|
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TAMPA- Behind another outstanding pitching effort by Lindsey Richardson, the University of South Florida softball team completed the three-game sweep of Georgetown with a 4-1 win on Sunday.
The win extended the Bulls winning streak to 10 games, and improved them to 27-15 and 7-0 in league games, best in the BIG EAST.
The 7-0 start in league play is the best start for the Bulls since they started 11-0 in 2006. The Bulls finished 17-3 in league play that year to win the BIG EAST regular season championship.
Richardson settled down after allowing a first inning run, the first allowed by Bulls' pitching in the series and finished her 5.0 innings with five strikeouts and one walk while allowing just the one run on a pair of hits to earn her 10th winning of the season, tying her for the team lead with Sara Nevins.
Gina Kafalas and Courtney Goff each recorded three-hit games in the winning effort, while Kourtney Salvarola added a pair of hits on the day.
Goff finished the day 3-for-4 at the plate, just her second multi-hit game of her career and her first three hit performance.
Kafalas went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, her team-leading 17th multi-hit game of the season and her second three-hit performance of the year.
Salvarola went 2-for-4 on the day to extend her hitting streak to seven games while adding a pair of runs and Janine Richardson drove in three runs on the day despite going 0-for-3 from the plate.
It was a rocky start for Richardson, but she quickly settled into a groove.
Lindsey Richardson's first-inning pitching frustrations were quickly fixed with a short visit to the mound by coach Eriksen, as Richardson retired the last two batters of the inning after allowing the one run.
The Bulls did not wait to respond.
Leadoff hitter Gina Kafalas set the tone early for the Bulls with a single to center. She was then sacrificed to second by Ashli Goff and Kourtney Salvarola knocked a single to right field, advancing Kafalas to third. Cleanup hitter Janine Richardon's sacrifice fly to centerfield brought home Kafalas, giving the Bulls the tying run. Freshman Stephanie Medina then walked to first, putting Salvarola into scoring position. Laura Fountain continued her hot streak by drilling a double up the middle to bring home Salvarola and give the Bulls the 2-1 lead after one.
The Bulls improved to 16-4 record when scoring in the first, and a 15-2 when leading after the first frame, compared to a 1-6 record when trailing after the opening inning.
A fifth-inning error by the Hoya pitcher landed Kafalas on first and an Ashli Goff sacrifice fly advanced Kafalas to second. She was quickly moved to third after a double down the left field line by Salvarola. A shortstop error put Richardson on first, bringing in Kafalas for the 3-1 Bulls' lead. Both Salvarola and Richardson stole third and second base respectively, which was followed up with an error by the Georgetown shortstop to score Salvarola extending the USF lead to three.
Capri Catalano and Sara Nevins combined to work the top of the sixth, and that is when the Bulls' bats exploded.
USF hung four runs in the bottom of the sixth to bust the game open 8-1, and Brittany Bowles worked a scoreless seventh to give the Bulls their 10th consecutive victory.
The Bulls will look to keep the streak alive as they travel to New Jersey for a midweek double-header with Rutgers on Thursday followed a three-game set over the weekend with Seton Hall.
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