February 24, 2015

Gainesville, FL – A grand slam by the Hillsborough Hawks in game one of a double header with Santa Fe paced them to an 11-6 victory, and five costly errors by the Saints in game two gave HCC a 5-4 eight inning victory to complete the two game sweep.

Hillsborough started the scoring in game one with a grand slam in the second and added three runs in the third for a 7-0 lead.  Santa Fe (7-8) answered with three runs in the top of the fourth on three hits but only managed a run in each of the final three innings.

Sarah Ortiz continued her hot hitting for the Saints, going 3-for-4 with a RBI and two runs scored, and Caitlan Fuller was 2-for-3.

Game two was a back and forth affair with the Saints taking a 2-0 lead in the second on a homerun by Evelyn Arguelles.  HCC got a run back in the bottom half of the inning but Santa Fe responded with a run in the top of the third on a sac fly by Maddy Peres for a 3-1 lead.

Hillsborough picked up a run in the fourth and another in the fifth to tie the score and after neither team plated a run through seven innings, the game moved to extra innings.

In the eighth inning with the international tiebreaker in effect, both teams started with runners on second base to begin the inning.  The Saints were successful at scoring their runner in the top of the eighth to take a 4-3 lead thanks to a RBI single from Keysha Gordon.

HCC started the bottom of the eighth with two straight outs, and it looked like the game was shifting towards the Saints.  The next batter singled to put runners at first and third and the Hawks followed that with a fly ball that was dropped by Santa Fe, scoring both runs.

Arguelles was 2-for-4 with a homerun and two RBI, and Keysha Gordon was 1-for-4 with a RBI.

The Saints will travel to St. Petersburg College on Thursday, February 26 for a double header with the Titans starting at 4:00 PM.  Fans can follow along with live stats here.

For a full schedule, please visit www.santafesaints.com

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