Softball team hosts Miami Dade in key conference game Friday morning

The Eastern Florida State College softball team will be hosting a pair of Southern Conference games with postseason implications on Saturday morning.

The Titans will take the field at 10 a.m. against Miami Dade College and then Indian River State College will play South Florida State College at noon.

If both the Titans and Indian River State College win, they will be representing the Southern Conference in the FCSAA State Tournament. If either team loses their game, the four teams will play a round robin format with the top two teams at the end of the day advancing to the tournament.

Eastern Florida State College has played Miami Dade six times this season and each team has won three times. The Titans swept Miami Dade last weekend on the road behind some strong pitching and clutch hitting.

"There's no secrets at this point in the season, fortunately for us we have come out hot against them the past four games so we have that going for us," Eastern Florida State College softball coach Shelby Petik said. "But it is a new day, we just have to come out and pitch well, play good defense and have good at-bats."

Indian River State College comes into the game in first place but needs at least one win to solidify the top spot. The Pioneers are 8-0 this season against South Florida State College but four of the games have been one-run games.

Eastern Florida State College comes into the day one game ahead of Miami Dade for second place in the conference.

"It's survive and advance, it is an all hands on deck kind of day and it will take everybody, all 20 of us to pull out Game 1," Petik said. "We tell them one pitch at a time and at the end of the game, hopefully it is seven innings of good softball."

Admission to games at Titan Softball Complex are free and the Titans game against Miami Dade will be shown live online on the EFSC Titans YouTube page.