MIAMI SHORES, Fla.—The 13th-ranked Barry Buccaneers opened Sunshine State Conference softball action with a 4-0 win over the Florida Tech Panthers at Buccaneer Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Brianna Smith (8-3) tossed a one-hit shutout and Amber Durkin went 3-for-3 with a double, scoring two runs and driving in another.
Smith, who walked two and struck out four, gave up just a single to Sasha Stepaniuk leading off the fifth inning. Stepaniuk, who also walked in the second, was the only Panther runner to advance past first base.
The Bucs (18-4, 1-0 SSC) got a run in the third inning. Kelly Martinez reached on an error to lead off the inning and Durkin and Natalia Ojeda followed with singles to load the bases. After a fielder’s choice, Grace Collins executed a perfect squeeze bunt to score Durkin with the only run Smith would need.
In the fourth, Barry tacked on three more with the help of three Panther errors. With two outs, Martinez again reached on an error and stole second. Durkin smacked a double into left center to score Martinez. Ojeda followed with an RBI single to score Durkin and ended up at third after an error by Amanda Bueno on the throw home. Ojeda scored on another error, by Kara Dickinson.
Brianna Barth (6-5) took the loss for the Panthers. She allowed four runs (one earned) on five hits in 3.2 innings and struck out one.
The series concludes on Wednesday, Mar. 7 with a doubleheader starting at noon. Live stats and broadcast are available on the Barry website at GobarryBucs.com through GameCentral.
Barry 4, Florida Tech 0 (03/06/12 at Miami Shores, FL)
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Florida Tech........ 000 000 0 - 0 1 4 (11-12, 1-3 SSC)
Barry.................. 001 300 X - 4 8 0 (18-4, 1-0 SSC)
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Pitchers: Florida Tech - Brianna Barth; Taylor Smith(4) and Lindsy Dugan. Barry - Brianna Smith and Kayla Monroy.
Win-Brianna Smith(8-3) Loss-Brianna Barth(6-5) T-1:31 A-57
Weather: Blustry