Softball sweeps NJCAA No. 3 Indian River, finishes 61-3

Softball sweeps NJCAA No. 3 Indian River, finishes 61-3

OCALA--The College of Central Florida softball team made one last regular-season statement on Saturday afternoon.

The Patriots (61-3) finished off Indian River State College by scores of 12-0 (5IN) and 9-1 (5IN) to close the regular season at 22-0 at home.

Up next for CF is Polk State in the opening round of the NJCAA Region 8 Tournament at Vero Beach's Dodgertown beginning on Friday morning at 11.

Kalen McGill (33-2) extended her single-season school record for pitching wins, as she shut down the Pioneers over five scoreless innings in the opener.

McGill allowed just three hits and didn't walk a batter.

She needed just 50 pitches to get through IRSC.

She was followed by Lindsey White, who allowed one run on four hits over the course of CF's second five-inning win of the day.

While McGill set a record on Friday, Brooke Barlow etched her name into some rare company.

Barlow went 3-for-6 with three runs scored and a home run to go along with seven RBI.

Entering the day, Barlow needed one run batted in (RBI) to become just the third player in Region 8 history to knock in 100 runs in a season.

She did that and then some in the opener, as she plated five runs. Barlow ended the regular season with 106 RBI.

Barlow joined Lake City's Monique Marier and Palm Beach State's Crystl Bustos, as the only players to surpass the 100-RBI mark.

The nation's RBI leader added two more in the second game.

CF also smashed four home runs over the course of the doubleheader.

Barlow was joined by Rebecca Enter, Deeandreaya Davis and Tiona Hill as Patriot players going deep.

CF finished the regular season with 86 home runs, the second most by a Region 8 team in regular season play. Lake City Community College hit 92 in 1999 for the most in region history during regular season play.

The Patriots also upped their victory total to 114 over the past two seasons, the second most in a two-year span in Region 8 history.

Only Lake City's 1998-99 teams, who combined for 120, earned more victories over a two-year span in Region 8 history.

CF, though, still has work left to do.

They had no trouble with Indian River, a program that entered the day ranked No. 3 in the state and nation.

CF scored four runs in the second, three in the third and five in the fourth of the rout.

Caeley Nix went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI, while Davis added two hits and two RBI to back Barlow.

From there, the Patriots scored four runs in the first inning of the second game and followed that up with three in the fourth and two in the fifth.

Destinee Lizzmore was 2-for-3 for CF in the second game to lead the way.

The Patriots are now 64-6 at home under coach Kevin Fagan over the past three seasons.

CF has finished no worse than second in the Mid-Florida Conference during Fagan's three-year reign.

Before that, the Patriots had never finished higher than fourth in the MFC, but has now won consecutive conference crowns. 

Two years ago, CF was state and national runner-ups, before finishing 1-2 at the Region 8 Tournament in 2015.