St. John's University Athletics
St. John??' Softball Drops A Pair At FAU Tournament
2/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
The Red Storm softball team played its first two games of the 2007 season on Friday, Feb. 16 at the Florida Atlantic Tournament. St. John???s lost its first game of the day, 7-3, against the Long Island Blackbirds before falling to the Florida Atlantic Owls, 3-2, in extra innings.
Junior pitcher Lisa Geer was instrumental offensively in game one as she impressed at the plate. She took the first pitch she saw and fired it over the left field fence for a three-run home run. For Geer, who will be a regular in the lineup this season, it was only the second hit of her career, first home run and first set of RBI. She drove in all three of the Red Storm???s runs in a hard fought 7-3 loss to the Long Island Blackbirds and also struck out four as the starting pitcher.
In game two, senior pitcher Kim Lerch went the distance, working over nine innings. She held a 1-0 lead until the seventh inning when the Owls rallied back to tie the game. St. John???s and Florida Atlantic battled for the win until the top of the tenth inning when the Owl???s Blair Bodenmiller drove in Jenna Lopez, who was on second due to the international tie breaker rule. Lerch took the heart breaking 3-2 loss but was solid in her first outing of the season, giving up only one earned run and fanning six. Out of the 173 pitches she threw, 73 of them were strikes.
Rookies Brandy Reyes and Shauntaine Harris showed no signs of nerves in their first games of the season as they contributed a hit a piece in game one. Reyes scored on Geer???s homer in the first inning against LIU and picked off two Blackbird runners from behind the plate. In game two, she had one hit and one RBI. Classmate Ona Halladay got her first collegiate start and hit against Florida Atlantic while fellow newcomer, junior transfer Spring Montgomery, also added a hit and a run in game two.
Another positive St. John???s took away from the first day of the season was the play of senior co-captain Tami Hill, who showed why she is the best choice for the leadoff spot. During Hill???s first at bat of the season against Long Island, she knocked the ball up the middle for a single. In the next game against Florida Atlantic, she started things off with a double to left field and followed that up with another single in the top of the third. Overall for the day, she was 3-for-7 with one run and a double.
The Red Storm will continue its play in the Florida Atlantic Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 17, when it takes on Maryland at 9 a.m. and Michigan at 4 p.m. Fans can follow all the action at http://fausports.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/07-dunkin-donuts-classic.html.
