Softball team falls at state tourney, finishes year with 31 wins

The Eastern Florida State College softball team was eliminated from the NJCAA DI District/FCSAA State Softball Tournament on Friday at the Boombah Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood.

The Titans, who finish the season 31-25, lost to the State College of Florida Manatee 9-5 in an elimination game. Eastern Florida State College went 0-2 in the tournament.

The Titans got to Manatee starter Madi LoCastro in the third inning as Katia Zavala scored the first run on Hannah Crumblish's bunt single and later in the inning Madison Neuhaus hit a two-run double to make it 3-0.

Manatee would tie it up with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Titans took the lead back in the top of the fifth inning as Nikki Pennington drove in Jilana Figueroa-Rodriguez with an RBI single to make it 4-3. 

But the lead would not last long as the bottom of the fifth inning would prove to be the difference – and it came down to inches.

Two different times in the inning a Titan got their glove on a ball but could not hang on as Manatee ended up scoring five times in the inning.

Nikki Pennington, who was named to the first team all-state team, finished her season the same way she started it – with a home run. Pennington's shot to left field with two out in the ninth inning made it 9-5.

Pennington and Crumblish each had two hits in the game.