Hook pitched six strong innings while Epperson and Maldonado each tallied three RBIs in the win
TAMPA, Fla., March 4, 2020 – A strong effort on offense paired with a dominant pitching performance gave the University of South Florida softball team an 8-2 win over the Detroit Mercy Titans on Wednesday.
Brittany Hook (Willow Street, Pa.) earned her first career win in her first collegiate start in the victory. She pitched six innings and allowed zero earned runs in the game. Madison Epperson (Tampa, Fla.) and Dezarae Maldonado (Winter Haven, Fla.) both led the way for the USF offense, each tallying three RBIs.
USF put itself on the board early. AnaMarie Bruni (Schwenksville, Pa.) walked to open the game, stole second, then advanced to third on an error by the catcher. Epperson drove her home for her first RBI of the game to give USF a 1-0 lead.
Pitchers then dueled until the fourth when USF broke the stalemate to add to its lead. Maldonado drove home Megan Pierro (Lutz, Fla.) and Meghan Sheehan (Forest Hill, Md.) scored on an error by the catcher to extend the Bulls’ lead to 3-0.
USF continued to score in the fifth inning. After Brooke Hartman (Port Orange, Fla.) singled to lead off the inning, Epperson hit a two-run homer to push the score to 5-0. Pierro put herself in scoring position later in the inning, drawing a walk and stealing second, and Maldonado drove her home to earn her second RBI of the day. Bruni would also drive home a run later in the inning to give the Bulls a 7-0 lead heading into the sixth.
Detroit Mercy got on the board in its half of the sixth, scoring two runs to shrink South Florida’s lead to five. The Bulls responded in the bottom of the inning, with Maldonado drawing a walk to push home Brooke Leistl (Valrico, Fla.) to give USF an 8-2 victory.
Quotable
Coach Jessica Moore on the team’s depth…
“Any time you can start to cultivate 15 to 17 players, that’s pretty good. At the end of the day, only 10 are going to go into the lineup, so sometimes it’s hard with a large roster because they’re sometimes just chomping at the bit to get some playing time. I don’t really like to talk about roles, because then they can get caught off guard sometimes when you say ‘no, you’re going in now,’ and they say ‘we’ll I’m not used to that.’ So I don’t necessarily like to talk about roles, but they start to kind of fill in and get into the groove of what we’re asking them to do. To me, you need to be ready to do anything that you’re called upon to do.”
Notables
- Bruni went 3-for-3 and drew a walk in the game. The senior leads the team among qualified batters with a .444 batting average and a .470 on-base percentage. She also tallied her first RBI of the year.
- Maldonado and Epperson both set new career-highs in RBIs, each driving in three in the win.
- Bailee Leistl (Valrico, Fla.) earned her first start at left field.
- Bruni is now tied for ninth on USF’s all-time stolen base list. She’s swiped 56 bags in her career, putting her in a four-way tie for ninth.
Up Next
The Bulls host the USF Tournament, featuring USF, Iowa State, UMass and Wisconsin. South Florida opens the weekend on Friday with games against UMass at 4:30 p.m. and Iowa State at 6:45 p.m. On Saturday, the Bulls battle Wisconsin at 2 p.m. to finish round-robin play. The tournament semifinals will be played on Saturday evening while the finals will be played on Sunday.
About USF Softball
Be sure to follow USF softball on social media (Twitter / Facebook / Instagram) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information. The USF softball program has been one of the most successful on campus, making 15 NCAA tournament appearances, including a trip to the Women’s College World Series in 2012.
– #GoBulls –
