St. John's University Athletics
SJU Softball Tops Eastern Michigan in 11 Innings
3/10/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
The game was 0-0 going into the bottom of the second inning when Kelly Houghton (Millsboro, Del./Briarcliffe) hit her second homerun of the tournament. This time it was a solo bomb over the right centerfield fence, putting St. Johns up 1-0. The Red Storm put two more runners on base when Jeanine Giammarino (Staten Island, NY/Port Richmond) hit a single that dropped in short right center. Cecelia Baston (Falmouth, ME/Falmouth) was the second runner on for SJU after she reached on an error by the second baseman. Unfortunately, St. Johns did not score those runners.
The Shockers tied the score at 1-1 in the top of the fifth inning when Courtney Crumbliss hit a solo shot over the left field fence off of Courtney Fitzgerald (Bellerose, NY/Mary Louis Academy). Wichita kept the inning alive with two outs when Tina Lewis reached on an error by Jessica Shepherd (Akron, OH/Ellet) and eventually scored when Lupo hit a single to centerfield. WSU finally ended the inning when Lisa Clary struck out, but not before scoring two more runs to end the inning with a score of 4-1. The Shockers would hold the Red Storm scoreless from and hung on for the 4-1 victory. Fitzgerald took the loss for St. Johns, dropping her record to 4-6. She gave up six hits and struck out two.
SJU was then seeded into bracket play, slated to play two more games. The first game was at 4:00 p.m. against the Eastern Michigan Eagles followed by a 6:30 p.m. contest against the Georgia State Panthers.
In the first game against EMU, St. Johns scored first in the top of the fourth inning when the shortstop committed two throwing errors, allowing both Tiffany Howerton (Escondido, CA/Escondido) and Houghton to reach base. The run was brought in on a single by Ann Raab (Freehold, NJ/Allentown) to right field which scored Howerton. The Red Storm tried to keep the inning alive by advancing Houghton and Raab on Danielle Sweeneys (Bellerose, NY/Mary Louis Academy) sacrifice bunt, but the inning ended with a line drive shot by Shepherd and a strikeout by Marilyn Brown (Bronx, NY/John F. Kennedy).
The Eagles came back to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth when Aimee Hamilton hit a solo homerun over the left field fence off Gina Calabrese (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach). Both SJU and EMU did not score in the seventh, so the game went into extra innings and the international tiebreaker was used.
SJU was able to hold the Eagles defensively and record the win in the top of the 11th when SJU went ahead 3-1. The Red Storm scored those two winning runs when Lisa Tropea (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) and Howerton scored on a ground ball to shortstop by Raab. Calabrese took the win to improve her record to 6-6, as she threw all 11 innings recording ten strikeouts and giving up six hits.
After playing those 11 innings, SJU went right into their second game against GSU. Under the lights, SJU held the Panthers scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Corrie Roberts hit a double and eventually scored when Shannon McCormick hit a ground ball to the third baseman. The Panthers scored again in the bottom of the fifth this time scoring two more runs. Yolanda McRae scored first after she hit a single and eventually scored on an error by Raab that also allowed Cindy Gilles to reach first. The second run was scored when Cheryl Bodzioney hit a single, Corrie Roberts reached on an error by Howerton advancing Bodzioney to second base, and Gilles scored. These runs closed out scoring for GSU making the final score 3-0 in favor of GSU. Fitzgerald (4-7) took the loss giving up five hits and three strike outs.
After a full day of play for SJU their record is now 10-13. They will play in a 12:00 p.m. game Sunday against the winner of the Mercer College and EMU game.
