SCF Softball Welcomes Final Great Lakes Team

The SCF softball team (18-12) return home for one final home series before Suncoast Conference play as they welcome Lincoln Land CC (3-3) to the SCF Softball Complex Wednesday night, March 11 at 4 and 6 pm. This will be the first ever matchup for both teams.

Last Time Out:
The Manatees came off of being swept by Seminole State losing by scores of 2-0 and 6-4 on the road. Seminole State was listed as #10 in the NJCAA National Poll.

Six players have at least 10 RBI in their regime: sophomore Madi LoCastro (13) and freshmen Samantha Hampton (10), Emily Hughes (13), Kristin Kopp (15), Lauren Hutcherson (17) and Maddie Koczersut (22). Hutcherson leads the team with a .382 batting average, while Koczersut leads the team with four home runs and 16 walks.

Freshmen Lauren Lightbody and Lilly Salazar continue their dominance in speed. Lightbody is batting .379 with a team-leading 33 hits and 12 stolen bases, while Salazar is batting .313 with 26 hits and 11 stolen bases.

Meanwhile, sophomore Ashlee Zientek is 4-3 with a 2.75 ERA and 53 strikeouts. Zientek pitched in game two of the series against Seminole State, throwing five innings of relief with two strikeouts.

Freshman Ally Hulme is 6-4 with a 3.73 ERA and 36 strikeouts despite giving up three runs in one inning in game two against Seminole State.

As far as coaching, head coach Mandy Schuerman is only four wins away from reaching 200 career wins as head coach for the Manatees.

Upcoming Feature Story:
So far on my part, I have done four feature stories for the SCF athletics and for the next upcoming feature story, I have chosen to do one on the quartet of a reunion. This one will tell the story LoCastro, Hughes, Koczersut and Madi Schaefer as I will talk with them about their combined story of them playing in high school (Lakewood Ranch) to reuniting and playing in college together at SCF.

Scouting Lincoln Land:
Lincoln Land Community College hails from Springfield, Illinois and represent NJCAA DII Region 24 (Mid-West Athletic Conference). They are known as the Loggers and are led by Rachel Wisner. Wisner, a alum of the college, enters her first season as head coach after spending the last season as assistant coach under the wing of John Marsaglia, who retired after 10 seasons with the Loggers.

The Loggers opened their season with a doubleheader against NJCAA Region 16 St. Charles CC winning by scores of 4-3 and 8-2 in Missouri. The Loggers flew to Florida, assumingly Friday, and opened their trip against Lake Sumter Sunday where they split with the Lakehawks winning game one 4-0 before losing game two 8-1 before being swept by #10 Seminole State College of Florida Monday afternoon, March 9 losing by scores of 12-1 and 10-2 both via mercy rule.

Sophomore Jacey Nall finished last season 10-9 last season with a 4.65 ERA and 80 strikeouts. Currently, Nall is 2-0 with 11 strikeouts. In her last start, Nall threw five scoreless innings against LSSC with five strikeouts.

At the plate, freshman Rebecca Littrel is batting .625 with 10 hits and three RBI. Against LSSC, she went 5-for-8 with one RBI and two stolen bases.

SCF Fun Fact:
Since 2012, the SCF softball team is currently 45-7 against JUCOs that are not from Florida.

How to Keep Up:
Livestats are provided by GameChanger and fans can keep up with both teams on Twitter:
SCF: @SCFSoftball
LLCC: @Loggersoftball

Livestats: https://gc.com/t/spring-2019/state-college-of-florida-softball-5c4617fc03d69700218c16d3