Hall Opens BIG EAST Play with UND
3/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
PIRATES OPEN BIG EAST PLAY AGAINST NOTRE DAME
Seton Hall opens the 2013 BIG EAST season against the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a three-game series on Saturday-Sunday, March 23-24, at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Field in South Orange. N.J. The teams will play a double header on Saturday starting at 12 p.m., with a single game scheduled for Sunday at 12 p.m. Notre Dame leads the all-time series with Seton Hall 35-9, and swept a midweek doubleheader against the Pirates last season in South Bend, Ind. The Fighting Irish have won the last 11 games against Seton Hall.
LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates are coming off a west coast trip where they played five games against a solid group of competition at the San Diego Classic. Seton Hall split on its first day, beating Miami (Ohio) 6-5 in nine innings, and falling to Texas Tech, 7-4. Sophomore Colltey Sheldon was on fire offensively, smacking a grand slam against Texas Tech and recording four more RBI against Miami to finish the day with eight RBI. The Pirates fell to UT-Arlington, San Diego State and Colorado State to conclude the tournament.
WHO TO WATCH
SETON HALL: The Pirates have a couple of hot bats in senior Brittany Hammer and sophomore Colltey Sheldon. Sheldon recorded a hit in every game at the San Diego Classic last weekend and hit .500 over the weekend with three extra base hits, including a grand slam, and a team-high eight RBI. Hammer went 8-for-19 (.421) at the plate, scoring four runs with a double and an RBI. Sophomore Sara Haefeli brings a four-game hitting streak into the weekend.
NOTRE DAME: The Fighting Irish feature the BIG EAST’s leading hitter in Emilee Koerner who is batting .500 with 41 base hits, 19 for extra bases including five home runs, and 23 RBI. Laura Winter is 10-5 at pitcher with a 1.82 earned run average and 126 strikeouts in 107.2 innings pitched.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
Notre Dame is 19-7 overall and the Fighting Irish have won four straight games and eight of their last 10. Notre Dame is led offensively by sophomore outfielder Emilee Koerner, who is batting .500 with a team-leading five home runs and 23 RBI. Laura Winter is 10-5 in 16 appearances, striking out 126 batters. The Fighting Irish are outscoring their opponents this season 138-61 and lead the BIG EAST with a .972 fielding percentage.
FUTURE SCHEDULE
Seton Hall embarks on a five-game BIG EAST road trip starting next weekend with a three-game set at St. John’s starting with two games on Thursday afternoon at 12 p.m. The Pirates will then head to Chicago, Ill., to face DePaul in a midweek double header on Wednesday, April 3, at 12 p.m.
SUPER SHELDON
Sophomore outfielder Colltey Sheldon turned in a remarkable performance on the first day of the San Diego Classic on Friday, March 15. Against Texas Tech she hit the first home run of her career which came in the form of a grand slam and she followed that up with a three-hit, four RBI performance with two doubles in a 6-5 win over Miami (Ohio). In the two games she hit 5-for-9 with eight RBI and three extra base hits.
GOING THE EXTRA MILE
Seton Hall picked up its first extra-inning victory of the season with its come from behind 6-5 win over Miami (Ohio) in nine innings on March 15. After both teams scored one run in the eighth, sophomore Colltey Sheldon came up with a two-RBI double in the top of the ninth to propel the Pirates to a victory in their longest game of the season.
HAEFELI ON A ROLL
Sophomore right fielder Sara Haefeli has had a hot bat at the plate as of late. She has hit safely in 12 of her last 14 games and brings a four-game hitting streak into this weekend. She has appeared in 20 games, making 17 starts, and is hitting .297.
HARRELL NAMED TO BIG EAST HONOR ROLL
Freshman center fielder Yasmin Harrell was named to the BIG EAST Conference Weekly Honor Roll on March 11. It is the first time in her career Harrell received the conference honor. Harrell hit .600 (9-for-15) to help Seton Hall post a 4-1 record over the second week of its Spring Break trip. She also stole four bases and hit safely in four games, with four multi-hit performances. Harrell ranks fourth on the team with a .319 average and leads the Pirates with eight stolen bases.
#WINNING
Sophomore Danielle DeStaso leads Seton Hall with eight wins so far this season, which is tied for seventh in the BIG EAST and ranks 85th in the nation. She has already eclipsed her freshman season win total of six games last year. DeStaso ranks first on the team with a 2.56 earned run average and 77 strikeouts.
CLOSING IT OUT
So far this season Seton Hall has done a good job a preserving leads late in a game. The Pirates are 9-1 when they lead through six innings with the only exception coming in a 5-2 loss to Delaware on Feb. 22, where the Blue Hens scored four runs in the top of the seventh.
SPEEDY FRESHMAN
Freshman center fielder Yasmin Harrell has already shown a knack for swiping bases. So far this season she leads the team and ranks fifth in the BIG EAST with eight steals and she has only been caught stealing twice.
CLOSING IN ON THE TOP 10
Senior shortstop Brittany Hammer just jumped into the top-10 in school history in career batting average and is quickly approaching the top-10 in career doubles. She is hitting .303 for her career, which ranks 10th all-time. With 22 career doubles she sits just one shy of tying Jen O’Connor and Leah Menichetti for 10th place in program history.
STRIKEOUT KINGS
Sophomore Danielle DeStaso just cracked the Seton Hall top-10 in career strikeouts and junior Jen Metzger is not far behind. DeStaso has already fanned 182 batters in her career to rank ninth in school history while Metzger has 136 career strikeouts.
WELCOME BACK MEREDITH
After missing the first three weeks of the season due to injury, junior third baseman Meredith Henze was back in the Pirates’ lineup for the first time in Seton Hall’s 5-0 win over Dartmouth on March 2. She was just a defensive substitution in her first game back and recorded her first at bat against Bucknell on March 3.
PIRATES CLOSE STRONG IN JACKSONVILLE
Led by Brittany Hammer’s 3-for-4 performance at the plate Seton Hall closed out play at the Jacksonville University Invitational with a 5-3 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Feb. 23. The senior shortstop drove in three runs in the win while sophomore Danielle DeStaso picked up the win, allowing just one run over 4.2 innings with four strikeouts.
BREAKOUT FOR DELUCA
Junior Maria DeLuca had her first breakout game of the season when she went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI against Delaware on Feb. 22. She leads the team with 13 RBI and ranks fourth in total bases (28) and third slugging percentage (.452).
DESTASO NAMED TO HONOR ROLL
Sophomore Danielle DeStaso was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Feb. 11, after leading Seton Hall to a 2-2 week at the Hampton Inn Campbell Stampede Tournament in Buies Creek, N.C. DeStaso finished the week hitting .692, with a 1.385 slugging percentage and eight RBI. It was the second time in her career DeStaso landed on the BIG EAST Honor Roll.
LIKE A BROKEN RECORD
In Seton Hall’s season opening 12-5 victory against St. Bonaventure sophomore Danielle DeStaso took direct aim at the Pirate record books. She went 5-for-5 with seven RBI and 11 total bases to set a new single-game school record in all three categories. Making her performance more impressive, she faced all but three batters as the starting pitcher to pick up the win in the process.
