TAMPA – Sophomore Brittany Bowles hurled a complete game as the University of South Florida softball team defeated the Dartmouth Big Green, 5-1.
Sophomore Gina Kafalas led the way for the Bulls going 3-for-4, knocking in two in addition to scoring a run.
“Her (Kafalas) job is to get on base as well as to drive in runs when there are runners on third,” said head coach Ken Eriksen. “Her job is to get the ball in play and beat it out and she did that twice today. She is just playing ball. She is doing what I asked her to do and that is get on base.”
Bowles (3-5) did not walk a batter in her 14th appearance, striking out eight while giving up 10 hits. Her eight strikeouts is a new career high.
“We have been going through a lot as a team to discover who we are,” said Bowles. “Forget thinking. I just have to go out and throw like I have never thrown before. That should be a pitcher's mindset every game. It's fun to be out here, and it made me want to throw with my heart so much more.”
The Big Green were first to strike as Noelle Hernandez hit a double of the right center wall to start the second. After Molly Khalil laid down a sacrifice bunt, Alyssa Parker singled to centerfield to push the only run across for Dartmouth.
USF immediately answered, scoring four runs in the next three innings. Senior Cat Olnick doubled to centerfield in the home half of the second with no outs. Freshman Stormi Grzybek pushed the ball to the right side advancing Olnick to third. Junior Kelly McCarver was clutch with a two out single through the right side, evening the score 1-1.
Dartmouth threatened with bases loaded but Kafalas tracked down a ball hit to deep right field recording the final out in the third.
“Brittany got out of a lot of situations today,” said Eriksen. “She may have given up 10 hits, but maybe three were hard hits. The big key is not walking anybody. You don't give the batters an extra opportunity. You give a team a chance to extend the inning.”
With two outs in the bottom of the third, the Bulls took a 2-1 lead, as senior JoJo Medina doubled to center bring home Janine Richardson, who reached on a single.
Senior Melissa Rosas set a career high as she stole three bases in one game. Rosas pinch ran for Grzybek who reached on a leadoff walk in the fourth. Rosas swiped second and third before scoring on a Kafalas single. Junior Kendall Arnold bounced a grounder off the first baseman's leg, scoring Kafalas from second to extend the Bulls lead 4-1.
“Melissa is a smart base runner,” said Eriksen. “She is one of the smartest base runners we have had at USF. She took advantage of a catcher that was throwing high and wide today and she got a great jump. “
USF added an insurance run in the sixth on Kafalas' third hit of the day. Rosas, who reached on a walk and stole second, touched home standing for the fifth run of the game.
The Bulls will take on the No. 6/13 Florida Gators at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The game was moved up from 6 p.m. due to possibility of bad weather.
“Florida is a great team and they do everything right and for us to be competitive with them we have to do everything right,” said Eriksen. “Cognizant relaxation is where we need to be right now.”
