EFSC softball ready for big week of conference games

The Eastern Florida State College softball team is preparing for a big week against a couple of top five teams in the country.

The Titans, who are 9-7 in the Citrus Conference, will play No. 4 Indian River State College in a conference doubleheader Tuesday on the road and then will host No. 1 Florida Southwestern State College on Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.

Indian River State College comes into the matchup on a 10-game winning streak and is 13-3 in the conference. It should feature a matchup of two of the top pitchers in the state as J'Dah Girigorie is 15-1 with a 1.17 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 89 2/3 innings this season.

Freshman Avery Velazquez is 14-5 this season with a 1.12 ERA and has 104 strikeouts in 125 1/3 innings. Both pitchers are among the top in the state in all three pitching categories.

The defending national champions come into the matchup hitting .363 as a team led by Presley Smith who is hitting .479 in 27 games this season.

Eastern Florida State College is hitting .342 coming into the week led by the Velazquez twins. Avery Velazquez is hitting .450 in 34 games with four home runs while her sister Madison Velazquez is hitting .432 in 16 games and has two home runs.

Tuesday's doubleheader at Indian River State College will begin at 4 p.m.

Then on Saturday the Titans will host Florida Southwestern who begins the week 15-1 in the conference and are 29-1 overall. The Bucs are hitting .375 this season as a team which is second in the state to Northwest Florida State College. Florida Southwestern is led by Skylar Brennan who is hitting 477 in 30 games this season.

On the mound, Zoe Yzaguirre leads the Bucs with a 1.43 ERA in nine games as the Bucs have a team ERA of 1.53 this season.

Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m. at Titan Softball Complex. Admission is free to games at Titan Softball Complex and fans can watch the game live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.