SCF Softball Closes Regular Season @ CCF

The #20 SCF softball team (43-13, 16-4 Suncoast) will close the regular season on the road for non-conference play as they travel to Ocala to take on #4 College of Central Florida (48-8, 23-1 Mid-Florida) for a Thursday afternoon doubleheader April 25 at 2:30 and 4:30 pm.

Last Time Out:
The Manatees wrapped up Suncoast play with the Suncoast Tournament. There, they swept Hillsborough in the series winning game one 13-5 on Saturday and 10-2 in game two on Monday. Both games were won via mercy rule. With the wins, the Manatees secured a spot in the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Tournament as the Suncoast runner-up.

Qualified Teams:
Mid-Florida: #4 CCF (48-8, 23-1 Mid-Florida)*

Mid-Florida Runner-up: #17 Seminole State (44-14, 19-5 Mid-Florida)

Panhandle: #3 Chipola College (43-8, 18-1 Panhandle)*

Panhandle Runner-up: Gulf Coast State (37-15, 14-8 Panhandle)

Southern: Indian River State (32-13, 16-2 Southern)*

Southern Runner-up: Eastern Florida State (31-23, 14-6 Southern)

Suncoast: #1 FSW (52-1, 19-1 Suncoast)*

Suncoast Runner-up: #20 SCF (43-13. 16-4 Suncoast)

DII: Pasco-Hernando (20-18)^

*Conference Regular Season Champion
^: competes in NJCAA DII Level

Rankings:
The Manatees finished at #5 in the final week of the NJCAA Region 8 Softball Coaches' Poll, but it did not stop as they were reentered at #20 in the NJCAA National Top 20 Poll after Three Rivers Community College (33-6) dropped in the polls after a split series against State Fair Community College. Three Rivers, who was ranked #20 in the national polls, comes from NJCAA Region 16/Missouri Community College Athletic Conference (MCCAC).

The Squad:
The squad that still leads the way for the Manatees are sophomores Cheyenne Nunez, Haley McFadden, Kyria Holcomb and Megan Seeds, while for the freshman group it is Lauren Bostwick, Sabrina "Sas" Long, Madi LoCastro and Kailey Christian.

Nunez remains as the speedster on the team. The upcoming USC Upstate transfer is batting .371 with 63 hits, a home run 27 RBI and 36 stolen bases. Nunez was 6-for-7 in the Suncoast Conference Tournament with three runs scored and two stolen bases.

McFadden is batting .291 with 39 hits, two home runs and 29 RBI. The upcoming transfer for NAIA Warner University was 4-for-7 with an RBI in the Suncoast Conference Tournament

Holcomb is batting .321 with 41 hits, a home run and 32 RBI. Holcomb finished 2-for-7 with five RBI in the Suncoast Conference Tournament.

Seeds is batting .279 with 24 hits, a home run, 19 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Seeds was 3-for-8 with two RBI in the Suncoast Conference Tournament.

Bostwick is batting .258 with 19 RBI and 23 stolen bases. Bostwick was 3-for-6 with three runs scored in the Suncoast Conference Tournament.

Long is batting .346 with two home runs and a team-leading 39 RBI. Long was 5-for-8 with four RBI in the Suncoast Conference Tournament.

LoCastro is 10-4 with a 1.94 ERA and 48 strikeouts on the mound while batting .327 with six home runs and 24 RBI at the plate. LoCastro threw a complete game in game two of the Suncoast Conference Tournament with one strikeout while batting 2-for-6 with an RBI.

Christian is 23-3 with a 1.97 ERA and 187 strikeouts while batting .354 with 47 hits, a home run and 33 RBI. The upcoming transfer for the University of Delaware that was named SCF Student-Athlete of the Month threw 2.1 innings in the Suncoast Conference Tournament with one strikeout in game one while batting 2-for-6 with four RBI.

Scouting CCF:

The Patriots are coming off of sweeping Lake Sumter State to close Mid-Florida Conference play where they won both games by scores of 8-0 in six innings and 2-1.

Sophomore Tiffany Steczo leads the team with a .421 batting average, 23 home runs and 62 RBI. Steczo's 23 home runs not only lead the team, the Mid-Florida Conference and state, but are also second in the nation. Steczo was 3-for-7 with a home run against LSSC.

Sophomore Anina Fernandez is batting .394 with 25 hits, 13 home runs and 53 RBI. Fernandez was 3-for-7 against LSSC with two RBI.

On the mound, the freshman duo of Kelsie Rivers and Barbara Cook are 18-3 with one save each. Rivers has a 1.96 ERA with 121 strikeouts while Cook has a 1.95 ERA with 67 strikeouts. Both played and started in the series against LSSC with a complete game. Rivers throwing a complete game giving up one run and striking out six batters, while Cook threw a six inning shutout and struck out five.

Series History (2012-present):

Against CCF, SCF is 12-17 against the Patriots which included a 6-5 win at the beginning of the season at the JUCO Kickoff Classic and split at SCF where CCF won the first game 5-3 in extra innings before SCF won the second by a score of 6-0. The win in the second game was head coach Mandy Schuerman's 150th career win with SCF.

How to Keep Up:

Livestats will be available for the games and fans can also keep up on Twitter:

SCF: @SCFSoftball
CCF: @cfpats

Livestats Link: Livestats Link (account needed): https://gc.com/t/spring-2019/state-college-of-florida-softball-5c4617fc03d69700218c16d3