Seton Hall University
East Carolina
Walkden Homers Twice as Hall Tops ECU 10-8
2/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Freshman Alexis Walkden (Cibolo, Texas) homered twice and the Seton Hall University softball team held on to beat East Carolina University, 10-8, in its finale at the ECU Pirate Invitational Sunday afternoon in Greenville, N.C.
Seton Hall fell to Virginia Tech, 9-0, earlier in the day, and finished tournament play with a 1-3 record.
For Walkden, who is now tied for the team lead with five home runs this season, it was her second multi-home run game of the year, and she tallied a career-best four RBI in the win.
Virginia Tech 9, Seton Hall 0
Kelly Heinz tossed a no-hitter for the Hokies in their win over Seton Hall, issuing a walk and a hit batter in five innings of work.
Virginia Tech staked claim to a 1-0 lead in the first, with Katey Smith recording an RBI base hit to right off SHU starter Lauren Fischer (Robbinsville, N.J.).
The Hokies plated four in the second to seize control of the game, as four different players registered an RBI base hit in the big inning.
Seton Hall 10, East Carolina 8
Walkden's big performance started in the top of the second, as she sent a two-run shot over the wall in center field to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. ECU would rally for one in the third, but in the next half inning, Seton Hall brought three more runs home to open up a 5-1 lead.
Danielle DeStaso (Congers, N.Y.), who also picked up the win on the mound, drew a one out walk, and then sophomore Chelsea Caynon (Litchfield, N.H.) connected on one of her two base hits in the game, singling to left field. With two on and two outs, Walkden stepped to the plate and smacked her second homer of the game, this time clearing the wall in left.
East Carolina would rally. Trailing 7-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Meredith Mitchell capped a three-run inning with a two-RBI base hit to shortstop. With the bases loaded, SHU caught Kerry Butler in a pickle between first and second, but two runs would score before she was tagged out.
Seeing the lead cut to 7-5, Seton Hall responded by scoring three in the seventh. Juniors Jackie DiPietro (Horsham, Pa.) and Yasmin Harrell (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) reached to open the inning, and senior Whitney Jones (Skowheagan, Maine) hit her second triple of the season, driving in two while making it 9-5.
Senior Sara Haefeli (Montclair, N.J.) came up with the third RBI of the frame, scoring Jones with a grounder to short. ECU tried to catch Jones at the plate, but the throw was not in time.
ECU scored three in the last half inning, but ultimately saw its comeback attempt come up short. East Carolina brought the game-tying run to the plate with two outs, however, DeStaso struck out Butler to end the game.
With the win, DeStaso improved to 3-2 on the year, striking out seven. She also went 2-for-3 at the plate with three runs score. Walkden was 2-for-4 with the pair of home runs and Caynon went 2-for-3 for the first multi-hit game of her career.
Seton Hall returns to action in two weeks when it opens a 10-day Spring Break trip in Clearwater, Fla. The Pirates will play five games in the USF Under Armour Showcase from Friday-Sunday, March 6-8, starting with Bowling Green and North Florida.
