Seton Hall University
Rutgers
Walkden Homers but Hall Falls to Rutgers
4/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall University softball team dropped a non-conference matchup with Rutgers University, 12-2, on Tuesday afternoon at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Field.
Freshman slugger Alexis Walkden (Cibolo, Texas) continued her ascent up the Seton Hall single-season home run ranks, powering a solo shot over the fence in left in the bottom of the fourth inning, her BIG EAST leading 16th bomb of the year.
Walkden, who entered the week ranked No. 25 in the nation in home runs, is now alone in second place for a single-season at Seton Hall, and is just two homers shy of matching the program's standard of 18, posted by Laura Taylor in 2002.
The Pirates would manufacture their second run in the last of the fifth. Junior Jackie DiPietro (Horsham, Pa.) and sophomore Noel Lent (Yaphanic, N.Y.) came up with singles in consecutive at-bats, and DiPietro eventually came home to score on a Yasmin Harrell (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) RBI groundout to second.
Despite driving in a run, Harrell saw her season-long 10-game hitting streak come to an end, going 0-for-3 on the day. Walkden finished 2-for-3 at the plate, recording a first-inning single, and senior Sara Haefeli (Montclair, N.J.) posted another Pirate hit in the fourth.
Seton Hall was unable to overcome an early deficit as the Scarlet Knights struck for three runs in the top of the first. A Jackie Bates two-run homer in the top of the third extended the lead to 5-0, and another two-run shot off the bat of Chandler Howard contributed to a four-run sixth for Rutgers.
Freshman Alannah Basile (Levittown, N.Y.) started for the Hall, but fell to 0-1, giving up three runs and three hits. Sophomore Lauren Fischer (Robbinsville, N.J.) threw a bulk of the innings for the Pirates, striking out three in 3.2 innings, but she yielded five runs on five hits.
Seton Hall continues its eight-game home stand when it resumes BIG EAST play this weekend, as the Pirates host the conference leading St. John's Red Storm for a three-game set this Saturday-Sunday, April 18-19. Action begins with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12 p.m.
