Softball Picks Up First Win; Splits with UNLV

GAME ONE BOX SCORE (.html)

GAME TWO BOX SCORE (.html)

 

LAS VEGAS, Nev. The Seton Hall softball team's bats exploded in game two of a double-header against UNLV to take the night-cap 13-7. The Pirates lost the opener 8-0 to the Rebels (3-1) to wrap up play with a 1-3 mark at the Sportco Kickoff Classic.

The Rebels sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning of game two and took an early 5-0 lead after one, but the Seton Hall bats finally came alive in the second inning.

Freshman Nicole Loewenstein’s (Joppa, Md.) first career hit was a solo home run to lead off the inning. Freshman Kristen Kaelin (Parlin, N.J.) ripped a double to left, and Kealan Waldron (Oak Park, Ill.) drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. Freshman Jeanette Ragucci (Glen Gardner) drove in Kaelin with a single down the leftfield line, and Laura Canulli (Naperville, Ill.) hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-3 ballgame.

An infield single by Michelle Reed (Wrightstown, N.J.) set up Leah Menichetti (Jessup, Pa.) with the base juiced. Menichetti cleared the bases with a double to the gap in left-center field, giving the Pirates a 6-5 lead.

The Rebels regained the lead after RBI hits from Alyssia De La Torre and Brittany Bolinger, but Seton Hall continued to put on a hitting display in the fourth.

Loewenstein started the rally once again with a single. With the bases loaded, once again, Jamie Gates (Emmaus, Pa.) delivered an infield single to tie the score, and a Rebel throwing error put the score back in favor of the Pirates, 8-7.

The next batter, Canulli, recorded another infield hit, and another UNLV error brought in Gates. Menichetti hit a ball that the Rebel third baseman couldn’t handle and it was an 11-7 contest.

Loewenstein drove in another run with a double that fell on the chalk in leftfield, and Kaelin snuck a ball up-the-middle to extend the advantage to 13-7 after three and a half innings.

Schweitzer settled in after the third to pick up the win to improve to 1-1. Loewenstein was 4-for-5 and three Pirates finished with two hits.

UNLV starting pitcher Traci Odegard hit two batters in the fourth inning, and the Pirates loaded the bases after Brittany Schillizzi (Paramus, N.J.) reached base on an error by the Rebel first baseman. Odegard struck out Amanda Winn (Manahawkin, N.J.) to get the second out, and got out of the jam by getting Shannon Pease (Binghamton, N.Y.) to ground out to third.

In the bottom of the fifth, Chey Farley took SHU pitcher Ashley Forsyth’s (Freehold, N.J.) first pitch over the leftfield fence to open the scoring. Later in the frame, Kendall Fearn blasted a grand-slam to make it 5-0 in favor of UNLV. The Rebels tacked on another run after the Pirates second error of the inning to push the lead to six.

UNLV’s Ashli Holland drove a two-run walk-off double in the sixth to enforce the eight-run rule to finish the game.

The Pirates mustered just three hits off of Odegard and stranded eight baserunners. Forsyth pitched 4.1 innings and dropped to 0-2. Sophomore Katie Stilwell (Portage, Wisc.) struck out four batters in 1.1 innings of relief.

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