The Santa Fe College softball team, No. 1 in the state and the country, couldn't hang in its doubleheader against Tallahassee Community College on Friday.
After winning their first game 1-0 thanks to a run in the seventh inning, the Saints appeared to be fired up for the second game, with three up and three down in the top of the first.
But their momentum gave way to errors early on that ultimately cost them the game 4-2.
In the top of the second, the Eagles capitalized on the Saints' defensive errors, scoring 3 runs. Errors on routine line drives and ground balls by sophomore outfielder Yahtea Benton and sophomore shortstop Erika Garcia put the Eagles in scoring position.
"They played an intense first game," coach Chris Ahern said. "This is a young team that has a lot to offer, but they can't let getting behind get in their heads.
After a pitching change, subbing freshman Kimberly Squires (3-0) for sophomore Ashley Schmitt, the Eagles were only able to put up one more run. The Saints battled to the end, but left two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh.
"The first game was good, we won in the bottom of the seventh," Squires said. "But in the second, we got behind and couldn't get back up."
But by the bottom of the third, the SFC was on the road to redemption, scoring two and bringing the game within one run.
In the fourth inning, freshman Britany Doty, who would have scored the Saints' tying run, was thrown out at the plate by Eagles first basemen Andrea Salazar.
The Saints comeback ended there.
"We were able to come back from behind on the road (against South Florida Community College on Jan. 31), and we should be able to do that at home," Ahern said. "We'll be OK if we fix the errors and the pitchers hit their spots. And we'll develop chemistry sooner or later. Hopefully sooner."
SFC rebounded from its home loss by taking both games of a doubleheader against Manatee Community College 7-3 and 10-0.
