Sports Lowdown

Ryan Sinzenich - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Panthers scored seven runs in the fifth inning Saturday and hung on for a 10-6 win over Palm Beach Atlantic, in game one of a doubleheader. Game two did not fall the Panthers way, as they fell by the score of 4-3. The Sailfish used six pitchers in game one, trying to slow down a Florida Tech offense that got off to a quick start. John Sternagel doubled against Palm Beach Atlantic starter Tyler Hawks. He was sacrificed to third by Kevin Capella and scored on a ground out by Reid Neal . PBA answered, scoring a run off Panthers starter Tyler Deel . Sean Visconti hit into a double play, but Evan Dougherty scored, tying the game. PBA grabbed the lead in the bottom of the third, when Visconti doubled home Dougherty. The score stayed that way until the top of the fifth, when Florida Tech exploded for seven runs. Sternagel singled and later scored on a Grant McKown base hit, tying the game at two. C...

Hailey Leonard went 2-for-3 in game 1 - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography It is odd to call a game that had a 4-3 final score a slugfest, but when the game features four home runs, including the game winner, it seems appropriate. That was the situation Florida Tech softball was in Saturday, as they came up on the short end, in game one of a doubleheader against Palm Beach Atlantic. “We battled,” said Panthers coach Val Silvestrini. “I thought both teams played well, but we just need to do the little things better.” PBA (16-11) struck first, against Panthers starter Rachel Pence . Kayla Knight started off the top of the second with a single and later scored on a two-bagger by Michaela Hynes. The top of the third would produce one more run for the Sailfish, but it probably should have been more Maddie Bertisch started the inning with what seemed to be an innocent pop to short. The ball went off the glove of Krista Patterson and Bertisch inexplicably rounded th...

Ty Cohen (41) took the loss Friday night - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography Florida Tech fell one run short at Palm Beach Atlantic Friday night, losing 5-4 in a regional baseball matchup at Rubin Park, in West Palm Beach. Panthers starter Ty Cohen took the loss, giving up five runs on 10 hits, in five innings of work. Reid Neal , Grant McKown , Ryan Sinzenich and Trent Masih all had two hits for the Panthers in the losing cause. The Sailfish were led by Sean Visconti, who went 3-for-5 with two runs scored. PBA (16-9) landed the first blows, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Jake Summy reached on a Neal error, getting all the way to second base. After a Visconti single, Andrew Calderone chased Summy home with the first run and a Peter Rivera RBI single made it 2-0. After leaving three on base in the top of the first, the Panthers were held in check by Sailfish pitcher Josh Turner, until the top of the fifth. James Gronberg walked and stole second...

Sam Daniel - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish put a damper on Florida Tech’s Senior Day Saturday, beating the Panthers 80-76 in the regular season finale for both teams. Sam Daniel led the home team with 25 points, but FIT couldn’t overcome a sluggish second half that saw them get outscored 47-36. “In the second half, they forced us into a lot of turnovers,” said Panthers head coach Billy Mims. “We were real sloppy and they pressed us, turned it into a full-court game and we didn’t take advantage of the pressure.” To Mims point, his team turned it over 13 times in the second half, while only forcing eight. Senior Robert Booth finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Patrick Anderson chipped in 13 and Jordan Majors had 10. The game was even for much of the first half, before the Panthers before Anderson and Majors hit consecutive threes to get Florida Tech a 31-20 lead. After Dakota Zinser hit one for PBA, senior Raf...

Julie McCarthy - Photo credit: James Ragan Julie McCarthy scored 13 points and pulled down 11 rebounds Saturday, in her final regular season game with the Panthers, helping Florida Tech secure a 56-46 victory over Palm Beach Atlantic and finish the regular season on a winning note. “Obviously, there was no hangover for Julie with the corrective measures we took on Wednesday ,” said Florida Tech coach John Reynolds. Give her credit for being a good teammate, I’m proud of her.” “This group of kids has faced all kinds of adversity throughout the year, as much as any team I’ve ever coached,” he continued. “Today what we did was battle ourselves back to be 13-13. We got back to .500… and I thought that was the goal.” Florida Tech (13-13, 8-10 SSC) dominated the first quarter, leading 17-8 and played well in the second quarter, getting three pointers from Markeema Crawford and Amanda Allen early. DeLise Williams made her defense pay off after a steal, she dished to A...

After beating Nova Southeastern in the morning game on Saturday, the Florida Tech softball team picked up their second victory of the day in the afternoon, a 7-3 victory over Palm Beach Atlantic in the Florida Tech Marriott First Pitch Classic. Rachel Pence , who pitched a three-hit shutout against Nova, was back on the mound for game two. Things didn’t start well in the second game, with the Sailfish jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Kayla Knight drew a walk to start the game and Claudia Pizzarelli singled. Both runners advanced on a passed ball and came home on a single by Magnolia West. Florida Tech (2-2) came right back in the bottom of the inning against PBA pitcher Nikki Brinegar. She walked Krista Patterson and Sarah Hayes to start the game and Hailey Leonard , who hit a grand slam Friday, continued her hot hitting with an RBI single up the middle. She later scored the tying run on a Makayla Palmer ground out. Palm Beach Atlantic (0-3) came...

Jordan Majors - James Ragan Photograaphy The Florida Tech Panthers took all the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish could dish out on Saturday, withstanding a late charge by the home team, to earn a 76-73 Sunshine State Conference victory. “I was really, really pleased with how we never quit,” said Florida Tech coach Billy Mims, in his post-game interview with Jim Mitchell. “Guys could’ve given up, one more mistake could’ve killed us.” Florida Tech (11-6, 4-4 SSC) was led by Jordan Majors 22 points and got 18 from Sam Daniel , who also had 14 rebounds. In the end, this game came down to free-throws, with the Sailfish missing three of their final four free-throws down the stretch and going 8-for-19 overall. On the flip side, the Panthers were 7-for-7 for the game, hitting just two from the charity stripe in the second half. The Sailfish (7-9, 3-6 SSC) led 5-3 with 18:29 left in the first half and never led again. The Panthers got off to a fast start, with Majors, Pat Anderso...

Shequana Harris - James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech women’s basketball team escaped Saturday with a 61-58 road win against Sunshine State Conference foe, Palm Beach Atlantic. It was the Panthers first road win of the season. It was a bit if a different look for the Panthers to start the game, with Amanda Allen and Ashle Thompson getting the start, ahead of names like Julie McCarthy and Shequana Harris . Those players did come in a little more than halfway through the first quarter. “We had a couple things that went on this week that we weren’t happy with,” said Florida Tech coach John Reynolds, in his post-game interview with Jim Mitchell. “We started kids that hadn’t started and they had the lead 12-6. We subbed, but they continued to play in the first half for us. I thought this was the best team win we’ve had.” Despite not starting, Harris led the Panthers with 15 points and McCarthy finished with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. She also contribu...

The Florida Tech Men’s Soccer team suffered a 2-1 defeat Sunday afternoon, at the Hands of Palm Beach Atlantic, in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Panthers finished the 2016 season with five losses, two of those coming against the Sailfish. Florida Tech went down 1-0, when Charlie Dennis sent a rocket past Panthers goaltender Christian Moerch . The Sailfish defense was tough in the first half, holding the Panthers to just two shots in the first half, one on goal. Josh Thomas took the first shot 32:47 into the match and it was saved by Elliott. The second shot by Hugo Lopez went wide, at 39:47. Florida Tech (11-5-1) got things going in the right direction, early in the second half. The Panthers 2016 leader in goals, Luca Campanini got away from the PBA defense and launched a shot from the top of the box. Barker made the stop, but gave up a rebound and Lopez drilled it home, equaling the score with 27:18 left in the game. Moerch kept the game tied wit...

The Florida Tech Men’s Soccer team endured almost three hours of weather-related delays on Wednesday, in a 2-1 extra-time loss to the Sailfish in West Palm Beach. Add to that, the eight and a half minutes of overtime and you have a match that ended at 12:14 a.m. on Thursday. The two teams only combined for six shots in a first half that was played in very sloppy conditions.  Palm Beach Atlantic finally found the back of the net, just shy of 10 minutes into the second half. Kebba Nyang was able to beat the Panthers defense and then Panthers’ goalie Christian Moerch , giving Palm Beach Atlantic a 1-0 lead. After an extended lightning delay, the Panthers got on the board when Brandon Smalley took a free kick that he got into the box to Bjoern Jaeger, who passed to Jack Willison . He headed it past PBA goalie Elliott Barker, to knot the game, 1-1. Palm Beach Atlantic applied most of the offensive zone pressure the rest of the half, taking six shots following the ty...