St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Connecticut
St. John's Splits Doubleheader With Connecticut
4/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 25, 2009
QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's softball team (23-20, 11-9) took on the Connecticut Huskies (26-18, 8-11) in a BIG EAST doubleheader at Red Storm field and took game one, 2-0 before being topped, 14-2, in five innings in game two.
The St. John's offense cam out strong in game one as sophomore Chelsea Durning led off the bottom of the first inning with a double up middle, but after a four pitch walk to senior Roxy Struble, was caught stealing. Back-to-back walks to Stacia Dopudja and Shauntaine Harris loaded the bags for the Red Storm, but UConn's Rachel Crossin was able to work her way out of trouble and record the strikeout which got the Huskies out of the inning unscathed.
Pitching continued to dominate on both sides until the bottom of the fourth inning. After a reach-on-error by Harris and a walk to freshman Jenna Berger, St. John's executed the double steal to get runners on second and third with two outs. Freshman Rachel Paragas made the most of the opportunity, as she singled through the leftside to plate both runners and gave STJ a 2-0 advantage.
The two runs were all St. John's needed as sophomore pitcher Linzee Sumrall took a no-hitter into the fourth inning and limited the Huskies to just two hits in a complete-game shutout. Sumrall stuck out six batters and picked her 11th win of the season.
The Huskies got on top first in game two getting two runs across in the top of the first inning.
St. John's responded immediately in the bottom half of the frame as Struble blasted a solo home run off of the leftfield scoreboard to cut the deficit to one.
Connecticut used an RBI-groundout to plate its third run of the game in the top of the second inning and then got an RBI-single from reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year Micah Truax which pushed the score to 4-1.
The UConn offense continued to roll in the top of the third inning as they used nine hits to plate 10 runs in the frame and take a commanding 14-1 lead.
St. John's refused to quit however, as Paragas reached on fielder's choice and advanced to second on a throwing error, then to third on a wild pitch to give STJ a runner just 60 feet away in the bottom of the fourth inning. A single to leftfield from freshman Julia Sanchez plated Paragas but St. John's could not overcome the large deficit, and ended the game 14-2.
The Red Storm takes on BIG EAST-foe Providnece tomorrow in a doubleheader at noon as the squad celebrates Senior Day before the team wraps up its seven-game homestand on Wednesday, April 29, in a doubleheader vs. Fairleigh Dickinson at 3 p.m.
Notes: St. John's victory in game one broke a program record of 10 BIG EAST set in 2004 under then-head coach Melody Cope.
If you would like to receive the most up-to-date information on the 2008-09 St. John's softball team, please send your e-mail address to michael.gambardella03@stjohns.edu.
