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CLEARWATER, Fla. - The University of South Florida softball team beat Long Island 5-1 on Friday night to earn the 1,000th win in program history on the opening day of the USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament in Clearwater.
The win makes the softball program just the second at USF to win 1,000 games, and is the first women's program to reach the milestone.
“It is pretty awesome,” head coach Ken Eriksen said. “To think that our program is in the 26th year and to say that we have 1000 wins, says a lot about the girls that have played here since the inception of the program under coach Deese. It is just pretty awesome.”
The Bulls got a pair of RBI from each of their middle infielders Kourtney Savarola and Alexis Nowell. Savarola went 1-3 from the plate, while Nowell finished 2-2 at the dish.
Gina Kafalas went 2-4 with a run scored, and Stephanie Medina was perfect in her plate appearances, going 2-2 with an RBI.
Five runs was more than enough on the night for the Bulls, as they got stellar pitching from starter Capri Catalano, who went 5.0 scoreless innings allowing just five hits and striking out three.
Once again, Sara Nevins came on in relief, and shut down the opponent. The freshman did not surrender a hit or a run in 2.0 innings, and helped close out the second win of the day for the Bulls.
USF took the lead in the second and an RBI double by Nowell to score Courtney Goff, and after a triple by Laura Fountain in the bottom of the fourth, Nowell ripped a single to put the Bulls up 2-0.
Long Island loaded the bases in the fifth, but Catalano got a line out to second to end the threat and preserve the lead.
Savarola began the fifth by getting plunked with a pitch, but would eventually score on an RBI double by Medina.
The Bulls would extend their lead in the sixth after a pair of singles by McCarver and Kafalas set the table for Savarola. The freshman ripped a line drive off the glove of the centerfielder to score a pair, and put USF up 5-0.
Long Island put across one in the seventh off of Brittany Bowles, but Nevins returned to close out the inning and the historic win.
The Bulls will continue play in the USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament tomorrow as they take on Florida Gulf Coast at 12:30 p.m. and N.C. State at 3 p.m.
