San Marino's Michelle Floyd was clutch at the plate and in the circle. (Photo by Anne Cypress)
(La Canada) – In one quick swing of the bat, Michelle Floyd’s two years of frustration against La Canada became erased as she jubilantly trotted around the base paths with a line-drive two-run homer to dead center field to give San Marino a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning on Friday Night.
For good measure in the Spartans bottom-half of the inning, Floyd made quick work of La Canada’s batters to secure a 3-2 victory for the Titans.
In three seasons Floyd is now 2-5 against the defending Division 5 CIF Champs.
Down 1-0 early, the Spartans got to Floyd in the second. Annie Monroe led the inning off with a single and an error by the Rightfielder allowed her to get to second. Monroe stole third and scored on Michelle Grochow’s single back up the middle to tie the affair at one.
La Canada wasted no time wrestling the lead away from San Marino in the third inning. With one-out, Katy Lee bunted down the third base line and out ran the throw to first. Lee promptly stole second, setting the stage for Catherine Horner. On a 1-0 count, Horner laced a double to centerfield scoring Lee for what appeared to be the game-winning run.
While the Spartans managed to get seven hits of Floyd for the game, the same could not be said for the Titan batters who were stymied much of the night by the brilliant pitching performance of Lauren Cox.
After giving up a lead-off homer to Alexis Watanabe in the top of the first inning, Cox settled into a groove that saw 15 San Marino hitters either swing and miss or buckle at a called third strike.
As the game wore on, Floyd also showed why the 6’4 junior is verbally committed to Arizona as she struck-out 11 La Canada batters.
In the deciding inning, Cox managed to work the count to 0-2 to Taryn Converse prior to getting squeezed on four straight pitches that allowed Converse to jaunt to first base.
With Converse on first, Cox’s first pitch to Floyd was shot down the leftfield line foul. Floyd made no mistake on the next pitch as she hit a laser over the fence in centerfield for the game-winning two-run homer.
Notes: Friday night’s game was the Third Annual Strike out Against Cancer fundraiser. Each team wore commemorative jerseys for the occasion. The last time that Floyd defeated La Canada was April 30, 2010. It was the Spartans first loss in 30 games after they were swept by West Ranch in a double-header on March 15, 2011.
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