Box Scores: USF 3, Illinois 0 | USF 7, Memphis 0 | Season Stats
TAMPA ? The University of South Florida softball team held its two opponents scoreless on the opening day of the USF Wilson Tournament. USF shut out Illinois, 3-0, in the season opener and follow the same course with a 7-0 blanking of Memphis Friday.
Sophomore Tara Toscano was the first Bull to reach base in the bottom of the first inning versus the Illini when pitcher Claire De Vreese issued the walk. Toscano then proceeded to steal second base on a pass ball.
That set the plate for Tampa native JoJo Medina, who hit a two run opposite-field homerun in her first plate appearance of the season
The 2-0 lead was more than enough for senior Courtney Mosch, who stifled the opposition with a pair of complete game shutouts.
“It was a pretty gutsy performance,” head coach Ken Eriksen said of Mosch. “I don't think you can have enough accolades for what Courtney Mosch did today. She was just so focused for 14 straight innings.”
The Bulls added their final run in the third inning when Toscano scored on an error that would have been thre final out of the inning.
Illinois posted minor scoring threats in the final three frames but couldn't do any damage against Mosch.
That trend would hold true in Bulls second game of the day when they squared off with the Memphis Tigers.
USF ran out the same starting lineup and the impressive results continue.
Mosch held the Tigers hitless until the top of the fifth inning when the Tigers appeared to be on the brink of scoring. Tori Gross and Melissa Nance reached base on errors by Tara Toscano and Brittany Villa .
Mosch was there again. The right hander bailed out her teammates and ended any hopes of a rally for the Tigers when she struck out Kailey Kassner.
Mosch produced at the plate too. She scored the opening run of the game in second inning. Then contributed to the another rally in the third inning.
Tiger pitcher Kimber Bossom intentionally walked Medina to begin the third inning. Mosch ripped a double to centerfield that plated freshman Kelly McCarver and Aya Nakajima to make the score 3-0 at the end of the third.
USF added a single run in the fourth and three runs in the fifth inning to seal the game at the final score of 7-0.
“Every individual gave the team the opportunity to score runs and we took advantage of it,” Eriksen said. “We played with a lot of guts. I just can't be more proud of 10 people that really paid attention to detail.”
The Bulls will be back in action Saturday morning when they face off against Bethune-Cookman and Florida Gulf Coast. Game times are 11:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
