Seton Hall University
Texas Southern
Softball Routs Texas Southern 12-2
2/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
DENTON, TEXAS - The Seton Hall University softball team wrapped up a dominant weekend at the North Texas Invitational with a 12-2 win in six innings over Texas Southern on Sunday morning, winning the tournament title with an unblemished 5-0 record.
Seton Hall, which had three wins come in fewer than seven innings all of last season, matched that total during opening weekend, with three-straight victories coming in six or fewer innings. The Pirates also added two more homers to their weekend haul, bringing their team tally to 14.
Sophomore Lauren Fischer (Robbinsville, N.J.) impressed for a second-straight game on the mound, picking up a win to improve to 2-0 after allowing just two runs on six hits with four strikeouts against the Tigers. She finished the weekend with a team-leading 1.64 earned run average, yielding just seven hits in 11 innings while holding teams to a .167 average. Fischer has already matched her freshman year win total, needing only a pair of starts to do so.
Seton Hall was up 8-0 before Texas Southern even plated a run. The Pirates scored once in the top of the first, with senior Danielle DeStaso (Congers, N.Y.) doubling to bring junior Yasmin Harrell (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) home, and added four more in the top of the second to see the lead reach 5-0.
Harrell, who finished a home run shy of hitting for the cycle, came up with a bases-clearing three-RBI triple in the second inning to make it 4-0, and came home moments later thanks to a Chelsea Guenther error behind the plate.
The first of SHU's two home runs came off the bat of Whitney Jones (Skowhegan, Maine) with two outs in the top of the third, bringing the SHU advantage to 6-0. Jones, who entered the season with two-career home runs, matched that total over three days in Texas, and hit .588 with six extra-base hits and six RBI overall.
The Pirates were poised to wrap things up with an 8-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth, but the Tigers rallied to keep the game alive when Brianna Parker hit a two-run homer with one out to trim the Seton Hall lead to six.
However, the game would be put out of reach quickly in the sixth as five of the first six SHU batters to step into the box reached base. With the bases juiced and nobody out, DeStaso hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Harrell. Senior catcher Kaylyn Sanbower (Etters, Pa.) laid down a bunt single to bring in junior Jackie DiPietro (Horsham, Pa.) and make it 10-2.
With one on and two outs, senior Sara Haefeli (Montclair, N.J.) smacked two-run shot over the wall to round out the scoring, her team-leading fifth home run of the week.
Jones went 4-for-4 for The Hall, while Harrell was 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored. Haefeli chipped in yet another multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4 while driving in three and scoring twice.
Seton Hall is 5-0 for the first time since 1999, when the Pirates won seven straight to start the season. SHU hit .393 as a team and slugged .814 overall, with 14 home runs and a total of 30 extra-base hits in five games. Six different players hit at least one home run, with four recording multiple home runs on the weekend.
Seton Hall returns to action next weekend, with five games scheduled at the 25th Campbell/Cartier Classic on Friday-Sunday, Feb. 13-15, in San Diego, Calif. The Pirates open up on Friday against North Dakota State at 5 p.m. (ET).
