St. John's University Athletics
SOFTBALL SWEEPS IONA, 2-0 & 9-5
4/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
After winning seven of its last eight contests, St. John's now owns a winning record for the first time this season at 24-23. Iona falls to 11-16.
In the first game, juniors Ann Raab and Kelly Houghton each blasted solo homeruns to account for the bulk of the Red Storm offense. Houghton jacked her seventh homerun of the season to lead off the second inning, while Raab took Iona pitcher Leslie Rippon deep with two outs in the fourth inning for her second homerun of the season. Fitzgerald allowed only one baserunner, a one-out single to Daphne Page in the bottom of the fourth, in seven innings of work. She struck out 10 and walked none for her 12th victory of the season.
In the nightcap, the Red Storm jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first on Houghton's second long ball of the day. This time she lifted the first pitch she saw from pitcher Amy Burdette over the left field fence for her eighth homerun of the season. After going 20 games without a homerun, Houghton's two dingers today make her the all-time single season homerun leader at St. John's.
The Gaels responded in the bottom of the third with two on and two out as Rippon launched a drive over the left-center field fence, giving Iona its first lead of the day at 3-2. Then in the bottom of the fifth, Page and Claire Dinkel smoked back-to-back line drive basehits off starter Gina Calabrese. The rally prompted a visit to the mound by head coach Melody Cope, who brought in Fitzgerald with one out. She got the next batter, Rippon, who had homered in her last at-bat, to ground out to third. But the next hitter, Shana Gary, ripped a two-run double to left field to extend the Iona lead to 5-2. The Red Storm escaped the inning without any further damage, and would rally for what would prove to be more than enough of a cushion in the top of the sixth.St. John's batted around in its half of the sixth and rattled off six basehits while scoring seven runs to assume a 9-5 lead. Junior Marilyn Brown drove in a pair with a bases-loaded double down the right field line. Then Jessica Shepherd hit a sharp ground ball to short. The shortstop Page fielded the ball and fired to the plate, but Raab slid head-first into home plate, snaking her body around the tag of the catcher and then reached back to tag the plate with her hand. The ball got away from the catcher allowing Shepherd to take second on the play. Freshman Jessica Dima reached first on the second error of the inning by Page, which loaded the bases for the Red Storm. Lead-off hitter Alesha Argeras reached on a hot shot up the middle, which was fielded cleanly this time by Page who fired to the plate to nail Brown for the second out of the inning. Then, junior Lisa Tropea stepped to the plate and drilled a bases-clearing double to the gap in right center. Junior Tiffany Howerton, who started off the inning with a single, lined a screamer to third which hit off the third baseman's glove, allowing Tropea to score the ninth run of the game.
Fitzgerald shut the door on the Gaels in the final two innings, allowing just a walk and a pair of basehits. She picked up her 13th win of the season, and seventh win in a row against non-conference opponents.
The Red Storm will return to Mitchel Field for a non-conference doubleheader against Marist College on Thursday, April 19, at 3:00 p.m.
