St. John's Sweeps Softball
4/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
GAME ONE BOX SCORE (.html)
GAME ONE BOX SCORE (.pdf)
GAME TWO BOX SCORE (.html)
GAME TWO BOX SCORE (.pdf)
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall softball team dropped a pair of games to St. John's on Wednesday. The Pirates (12-21, 0-8) were edged in extra innings, 5-3, in game one. In game two, SHU's late rally was not enough, as the Red Storm (15-21, 2-4) captured an 8-5 victory.
St. John's went on top, 1-0, in the second inning of game one after a sacrifice fly by Myriah Rodgers. In the fourth, the Red Storm added two more runs on RBI hits by Amber Curry and Dominique Marcelino walked with the bases loaded.
Sophomore Jeanette Ragucci (Glen Gardner, N.J.) reached on an error to start off the bottom of the fifth inning, and came around to score after a triple by Michelle Reed (Wrightstown, N.J.). Reed cut the deficit to 3-2 by scoring on a groundout behind the bag at first base.
With one out in the seventh, Ragucci singled through the left side, and moved to second base after a pinch-hit single by Brooke Tull (Greenwood, Del.). Reed delivered another clutch hit to even things up at, 3-3. Seton Hall had the winning run in scoring position, but could not come up with another knock.
Kristi Cady and Curry hit back-to-back doubles in the top of the eighth to give St. John's the lead right back. A Michelle Tilson sac fly tacked on an insurance run, and the Storm held on for the win.
Freshman Jen Metzger (Pine Hill, N.J.) took the loss after throwing eight innings, allowing five runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts. Rodgers picked up the win and improved to 2-0.
Reed finished 2-for-3 with a stolen base. Cady was 3-for-3 with three runs scored.
An error and a wild pitch led to a pair of St. John's runs to start game two in the top of the first inning, but the Pirates cut the Red Storm lead in half in the bottom half of the frame.
Reed drew a leadoff walk and moved all the way to third on a pair of wild pitches. Senior Brittany Schillizzi (Paramus, N.J.) reached on another base on balls to put runners on the corners allowing SHU to run a double-steal play to bring in Reed.
In the third inning, Reed was a catalyst again, leading off with a base hit. A sacrifice bunt and an error put Schillizzi and Reed on first and third once again, and Tull extended her hit-streak to five games with an RBI single to left. With two down, senior Nalin Bennett (East Syracuse, N.Y.) ripped a double to the gap in right-center to give the Pirates a 3-2 advantage.
Seton Hall gave up the lead in a fifth inning marred with errors, walks, and wild pitches. The Pirates gave up five runs on just two hits and found themselves trailing, 7-3.
After St. John's added a run in the top of the seventh, an RBI single by Schillizzi and a groundout with a runner on third brought the Hall within, 8-5. With the tying run on deck, Ashley Beza recorded a strikeout to end the game.
Reed went 2-for-3 and her steal moves her within five of breaking the SHU career record.
Metzger came in relief and earned the decision. She falls to 5-6 after tossing another three innings and surrendered two earned runs on four hits. Beza improved to 2-7 and she struck out seven batters.
The Pirates will look to snap its skid when they open up a three-game series at Rutgers on Saturday, April 9. The first game of the doubleheader is set for noon.
