Seton Hall University
Butler
Back-to-Back Homers in the 10th Lift Pirates Past Butler
4/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 27, 2014
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Freshman Lauren Fischer (Robbinsville, N.J.) and sophomore Faith Laudano (Islip, N.Y.) hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Seton Hall University softball team to a dramatic 7-6 win in game one of a doubleheader against Butler University on Sunday afternoon at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Field.
Butler bounced back to win the second game, 4-1, and take the series, 2-1. With one BIG EAST series remaining the Pirates are 9-9 in conference play, and in fifth place in the standings, a half game behind Butler and St. John's for the fourth and final spot in the BIG EAST Tournament.
Seton Hall closes out the regular season with three games at second place Georgetown University on May 3-4, in Washington, D.C. The Red Storm will play three games at Villanova, Butler heads to regular season champion DePaul next weekend and Creighton hosts Providence.
Seton Hall 7, Butler 6 (10)
After neither team scored a run in either of the first two extra innings the Bulldogs took control of the game with two in the top of the 10th as Krista Hakola and Cassie Rupel picked up RBI base hits.
Butler was one out away from coming away with a win before late game heroics turned the tides. With sophomore Jackie DiPietro (Horsham, Pa.) reaching earlier with a single into right, Fischer worked a full count against Callie Dennison before belting her first-career home run over the wall in right field, tying the game at 6-6.
It didn't stay that way for long as Laudano made it back-to-back homers with a rocket out of the park in right center, also the first of her career, completing what amounted to the second big comeback of the game for Seton Hall. Both Fischer and Laudano nearly homered off Dennison earlier in the game, sending fly balls all the way back to the warning track in previous at-bats.
Fischer was the star for the Pirates, also picking up her first BIG EAST win on the mound with eight innings of solid relief. She allowed just seven hits in eight innings and three runs with a pair of strikeouts. Fischer entered the game in the top of the third, inheriting runners at first and third with no outs. She went on to retire three straight and prevent any further damage in the inning, which later proved to be crucial in the tight game.
Seton Hall trailed for most of the game before taking advantage of a pair of Butler errors in the sixth to erase a three-run deficit and tie the score. With the bases loaded and two outs Alex Rabbetts (Corona, Calif.) came in to pinch hit and sent a grounder to short where Alex Kotter misplayed the ball, allowing DiPietro to score from third.
On the very next play senior Maria DeLuca (Cedar Grove, N.J.) hit a blooper toward first base and as Hakola reached up to make the catch the ball popped out of her glove. Because there were two outs the Seton Hall base runners took off on contact as Fischer and junior Whitney Jones (Skowhegan, Maine) came home to score.
Despite committing six errors, Seton Hall's key run preventing defensive plays throughout the game provided it with a chance to make a comeback. In the first, center fielder Sara Haefeli (Montclair, N.J.) threw a strike to Laudano at home to catch Kristen Boros in a bang-bang play to end the inning.
In the second inning DeLuca drifted over to foul territory to make a catch on a Riley Carter pop fly. Chelsea Norwood attempted to tag at second only to see DeLuca throw a dart to Meredith Henze (Elkton, Md.) at third for an inning-ending double play.
On the first play after Fischer entered the game in the third there was yet another play at the plate, this time Yasmin Harrell (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) went home with a ground ball and Laudano maintained a tag as Sarah Granowski slid through home attempting to score from third.
DiPietro went 4-for-5 with two runs scored. Laudano hit 2-for-5 and Fischer was 1-for-3, scoring twice.
Butler 4, Seton Hall 1
Kristin Gutierrez controlled game two, limiting Seton Hall to just one hit through the first six innings before the Pirates attempted a late rally.
Butler led early, scoring two off a Hakola double to right center in the second inning, and the Bulldogs had just added an insurance run in the top of the seventh to make it 4-0 before Seton Hall's offense attempted a second-straight dramatic comeback.
Henze led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to center and DiPietro singled with one out to collect her fifth base hit of the day. Seton Hall had runners at first and third with two outs for Laudano, who hit an RBI single to short to score pinch runner Valerie Suto (Mercerville, N.J.). Jones came to the plate representing the tying run, but she fouled out to the catch to end the game.
Junior Danielle DeStaso (Congers, N.Y.) was solid in seven innings as the starting pitcher, allowing four runs, three earned on six hits with a strikeout, but she fell to 7-9 with the loss.
