Courtesy of Vaughn Wilson/Rattler Productions
The Florida A&M Lady Rattlers capped off an impressive Saturday of softball by routing South Carolina State in both games of their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference doubleheader.
With the Lady Rattlers wearing camouflaged uniforms in unison with the team commemorating Military Appreciation day, they were unstoppable all day.
Game one was led by a dominant display on the mound by junior pitcher Kenya Pereira. She pitched five, giving up one hit coming in the top of the third after the Lady Rattlers had already extended a nine-run lead.
FAMU (16-19. 5-0 MEAC), wasted no time jumping on South Carolina State (4-16, 1-4 MEAC) pitcher Unique Whitehurst. After going hitless in the first, the bats came alive in the bottom of the second inning.
After back-to-back errors by South Carolina State shortstop Deanna Sullivan, Pereira’s RBI bunt single put FAMU on the board for their first run. There was no turning back from there.
With seven hits in the second inning, notably a two-run triple by senior second baseman Jessica Nathan, the Lady Rattlers went on to score nine runs in the inning giving them a 9-0 lead heading into the third.
FAMU would score two more runs in the bottom of the third followed by one more run in bottom of the fourth inning to extend their lead to 12-0 heading into the top of the fifth.
With South Carolina State needing to score at least three runs to avoid the 10-Run rule, Pereira was lights out. South Carolina wasn’t able to muster a hit in the top of the fifth rendering a stoppage to the game.
The Lady Rattlers finished the game with 13 hits.
Game two did not prove to be much different. The Lady Rattlers made sure this one was over the moment they came to bat.
After a well-pitched first inning by sophomore pitcher Veronica Burse, it was FAMU’s turn on offense. Led off by Nathan, FAMU would bring 16 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first collecting 10 hits and scoring 12 runs.
Designated Player Alexis Day had a pair of two-RBI doubles in the first while redshirt senior Kieifi Myrick had a bases clearing triple to cap a four-RBI inning for her.
While once again holding South Carolina State scoreless for the game, FAMU was able to tack on four more runs in the second and three more in the fourth with Senior Raven Moseley hitting a three-run homerun for emphasis.
The Lady Rattlers would finish Game two with 19 runs on 19 hits. South Carolina State was held scoreless again and had three hits.
The two wins kept FAMU at the top of the Southern Division with an undefeated MEAC record and dropped South Carolina State to fifth.