St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Softball Travels To Santa Barbara, Calif.
2/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 21, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. -
• The Red Storm head to Santa Barbara, Calif. to compete in the UC Santa Barbara Tournament on Friday, Feb. 22 through Sunday, Feb. 24. The Tournament is hosted by UCSB and Portland State will be the third team participating in the event.
• St. John's begins the tournament against Portland St. at the Campus Diamond in Santa Barbara, Calif. on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. The two teams have never met before. The Red Storm will face Portland St. again on Saturday at 2 p.m. and again on Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
• The Red Storm plays UC Santa Barbara in its second game of the tournament at 9 a.m. on Saturday. St. John's and UCSB have never faced each other before. The Red Storm will face Santa Barbara again on Sunday at 11 a.m.
• The UCSB Tournament is the start of a 12 day, 10 game road trip for the Red Storm. St. John's is in search of its first win of 2008 campaign and looks to many of its California players to feel at home and get back on track.
STORM TRACKER
• St. John's freshman third baseman/catcher Kacee Cox was named to the BIG EAST Conference weekly honor roll on Monday, Feb 18. Softball player Cox hit her first career home run and batted .308 over the weekend in Baton Rouge, La. at the Tiger Classic, hosted by LSU. In the Red Storm's final game of the weekend versus Nicholls St., Cox came through in the seventh inning with towering shot over the left field wall to record her first collegiate home run. Not only did Cox manage to get a hit in every game she played in, she finished the tournament with a slugging percentage of .615 and recorded six put-outs and six assists with only one error. The rookie has yet to strike out this year and has totaled eight bases on the young season to pace the Red Storm.
• St. John's was downed by Chattanooga in its first game of the season 11-5. Senior co-captain Lisa Geer pulled double-duty, relieving freshman starter Kat Lawrence in the first inning. Geer was solid on the mound for the Red Storm, giving up only two hits in five and a third innings, while striking out four. She was equally dangerous at the plate stroking a two-run home run just over the left field foul poll in the fourth inning.
• St. John's faced off against No. 7/9 LSU in Baton Rouge, La. and fell to the Tigers 14-0. LSU got on top early and did not look back. The Tigers scored ten runs in the first inning on just six hits. Freshman Kat Lawrence entered the game for the Red Storm in relief of Linzee Sumrall and was able to stymie the bats of the Tigers going four and a third innings and striking out five. LSU's sophomore pitcher Cody Trahan was able to do the same to the St. John's offense all night, ending the game with a one hitter.
• In St. John's third game of LSU's Tiger Classic, the Red Storm fell to the Cardinals of Ball St. 11-2. St. John's scored first when freshman first baseman Kacee Cox doubled to left field to score Chelsea Durning and later scored on a wild pitch. St. John's led after two and half innings but Ball State erupted in the bottom of the third to score ten runs and run rule the Red Storm 11-2.
• Versus Nicholls State, the Red Storm was able to mount a comeback after being down 6-0 in the second inning but came up just short versus the Lady Colonels. In the fourth, pinch-runner Melissa Pilley was able to score on a passed ball and put the Red Storm on the board. In the fifth, senior co-captain Danielle Estrada added an RBI single and in the sixth freshman outfielder Chelsea Durning also singled to drive in two and bring the Red Storm within three. Third baseman Kacee Cox continued her hot hitting, blasting a solo home in the seventh. Freshman pitcher Chelsea Plimpton had a great outing for St. John's allowing only 2 earned runs in a complete game effort.
SCOUTING
UC Santa Barbara
• The UC Santa Barbara softball team split a pair of games on the final day of the Campbell/Cartier Classic, defeating Tulsa, 3-4, on Feb 17 before falling to tournament host San Diego State, 4-1. With the split, the Gauchos' overall record now stands at 3-6.
• After spending the first two weeks of the 2008 season on the road, the UC Santa Barbara softball team will return to Campus Diamond this week to host the annual Softball by the Beach Tournament. The event will feature seven total games between UCSB and visiting St. John's and Portland State.
• 2007 All-Big West First Team selection Tisha Duran has been impressive so far this season. The third baseman has posted a team-leading .414 batting average in the first nine games and leads the team and the Big West with 10 RBI. Duran has posted the Gauchos' only pair of home runs this season and is first on the team and second in the Big West with 19 total bases.
Portland State
• Junior catcher Stefanie Ewing had a two-run double in the third inning and sophomore right-hander Stefanie Draper pitched a shutout to lead Oregon State to a 4-0 win over Portland State, in a non-conference game Wednesday afternoon at the OSU Softball Complex.
• Portland State concluded its six-game weekend with a 5-1 win over Seton Hall at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic, hosted by UNLV. The win over the Pirates came following back-to-back losses to No. 6 UCLA and No. 22 Missouri.
• Against No. 6 UCLA, freshman designated player Gionna Disalvatore went 3-for-4 with four RBI, and junior second baseman Amanda Kamekona hit a solo home run in the first inning in the Bruins' 7-4 win over the Vikings Saturday evening.
• Versus No. 22 Missouri, the Tigers scored four runs in both the second and fifth inning en route to a 10-3 win over Portland State Sunday morning. Mizzou out-hit the Vikings 11-7.
