Softball Swept on Day One of UCF Tournament
2/24/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Seton Hall softball team dropped a pair of games to open the UCF & Courtyard by Marriott Tournament on Friday. The Pirates (1-4) fell to Eastern Michigan, 7-1, in the early game before getting edged, 3-1, to UCF in the nightcap. SHU will take on Florida Gulf Coast and 9:00 a.m. and Jacksonville at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.
Seton Hall 1, Eastern Michigan 7
BOX SCORE (.html)
BOX SCORE (.pdf)
The Eagles jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning. EMU loaded the bases with one out and put the first run on the board after a catcher's interference call. Courtney Nicholson followed with a two-run single to cap the scoring in the inning.
Nicholson picked up two more RBI in the third to spark a four-run inning and put the Eagles on top, 7-0.
Sophomore Brooke Tull (Greenwood, Del.) pitched three innings of scoreless relief to keep the Pirates alive, but SHU could only muster one run in the sixth off of a Nicole Loewenstein (Joppa, Md.) RBI single.
Loewenstein went 2-for-3, accounting for half of the Pirates hits in the contest.
Sophomore Jen Metzger (Pine Hill, N.J.) started the game in the circle and took the loss (1-2).
Seton Hall 1, UCF 3
BOX SCORE (.html)
BOX SCORE (.pdf)
Junior Cashel Gaffey (East Lyme, Conn.) gave Seton Hall a 1-0 lead over the Knights with an opposite field single to score Loewenstein in the top of the second.
In the fourth inning, a Marissa Menendez triple brought in Natalie Land to even the score and Farrah Sullivan hit a sacrifice fly to center, giving UCF a 2-1 edge. Land added an insurance run in the fifth, notching a two-out double down the rightfield line to score Madeline Schroeder.
The Hall put the tying runs on base in the seventh even, giving them a chance to pull even or go ahead. A leadoff single by Kristen Kaelin (Parlin, N.J.) led to pinch-runner freshman Sara Haefeli (Montclair, N.J.) reaching second on a wild pitch. Freshman Danielle DeStaso (Congers, N.Y.) reached on an infield single to put runners on the corners with just one out. The next batter, Kirby Groves (Yardley, Pa.), hit a comebacker to the pitcher, who opted to throw home and denied Haefeli from scoring. Two runners were still on for Gaffey, but she ended the game with a groundout to first base.
Loewenstein picked up another hit in the game and has now hit safely in all five games on the season. She is also just four hits shy of reaching 100 for her career.
DeStaso tossed six innings and allowed the three runs on six hits to fall to 0-1 on the year.
