St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Long Island
Softball Splits Doubleheader with Long Island University
4/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 20, 2004
Jamaica, N.Y. - The St. John's softball team split this afternoon's doubleheader with local rival Long Island University, falling 1-0 in game one before bouncing back with a 6-3 win in game two. The Red Storm are now 19-19 overall.
In game one, Long Island was the first team this season to shutout the Red Storm as they downed St. John's, 1-0.
Long Island jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in top of the first inning of game one, a lead that would hold up for the remainder of he game. Leah Glenn led off by reaching second on a throwing error and would score as Sayde Marzolf followed with a RBI single up the middle.
After the first three batters reached base in the first inning, junior Meghan Allman (San Diego, Calif.) settled down to hold the Blackbirds scoreless over the next four innings. Seeing her first action since March 14 against N.C. State, she allowing one unearned run on two hits and one walk in her four innings of work.
Freshman Kimberly Lerch (Glen Head, N.Y.) replaced Allman in the top of the fifth inning and pitched the final three innings. Over the three innings, she held the Blackbirds scoreless, allowing only two hits.
Jackie Brown went the distance for the Blackbirds, improving to 4-6 on the season, shutting out the Red Storm on six hits and no walks.
In game two, Long Island jumped out to another early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Leah Glenn led off the inning with a bunt single in front of the plate and stole second during the next at bat. Jessica DiPippo drove home Glenn with a RBI single up the middle.
The Red Storm responded with three runs in the bottom of the first inning, on home runs by freshman Christina Tucker (San Diego, Calif.) and junior Allina Sainz (San Diego, Calif.) to take a 3-1 lead. Sophomore Megan Oliver (Endicott, N.Y.) led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Tami Hill (San Diego, Calif.). Tucker followed with a shot over the left centerfield wall for her ninth home run of the season, tying the single-season home run mark set by Kelly Houghton in 2001. Sainz made it back-to-back home runs as she took the next pitch over the right centerfield fence for her eighth of the season.
Long Island chipped away at the deficit with a run in the top of the third to cut the Red Storm lead to 3-2. Leah Glenn was hit by a pitch to begin the inning and moved up to third as Jessica DiPippo doubled down the left field line with one out. Margie Foster followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to score Glenn.
Freshman Brittany Crouch (Irvine, Calif.) relieved senior Courtney Fitzgerald (Bellerose, N.Y.) to begin the top of the fifth inning. Fitzgerald went four innings, allowing two runs on four hits, striking out three.
The Blackbird tied the game at three in the top of the fifth inning. Sayde Marzolf led off the inning with an infield single and Jessica DePippo followed with a single to right field. The ball got away from the right fielder, allowing Marzolf to score and DePippo to move up to third. However, Crouch battled back to get out of the inning without Long Island taking the lead.
The Red Storm responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to retake the lead at 4-3. Oliver beat out an infield single to shortstop with one out and would come around to score from first on a two-out RBI double by Tucker. Tucker's double was the Red Storm's 64th double of the season, breaking the team single-season record of 63 set by the 2001 squad.
St. John's added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to increase the advantage to 6-3. With one out, sophomore Jo Sherlock (San Diego, Calif.) drove a double over the left fielder's head. She moved up to third on a wild pitch and scored on a RBI single up the middle by freshman Loren Anguiano (Mesa, Ariz.). Sophomore Carrie Kester (Farmington, N.M.) reached on a fielding error by the shortstop and classmate Blair Belloni (Newport, Ore.) walked to load the bases with one out. After a force out at home, Hill was hit by a pitch to force home the final run of the inning.
