St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Opens Seven-Game Road Swing At Pittsburgh
4/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 16, 2010
Live Stats: | |
QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's hits the road this weekend, starting a stretch of seven consecutive road contests with a three-game set at Pittsburgh April 18-20. The Red Storm and Panthers will square off in a doubleheader April 17 starting at noon and play a single game April 18 at noon.
Live stats will be available for both games free of charge through Pittsburgh's official website, www.pittsburghpanthers.com.
St. John's hits the road this weekend, starting a stretch of seven consecutive road contests with a three-game set at Pittsburgh April 18-20. The Red Storm and Panthers will square off in a doubleheader April 17 starting at noon and play a single game April 18 at noon.
The Red Storm leads the all-time series against Pittsburgh, 13-7. St. John's is 4-2 against Pitt under the direction of head coach Amy Kvilhaug.
Last season, St. John's swept the Panthers in a doubleheader March 29, 2009, at Red Storm Field. The Red Storm took a 3-2 victory in the first game thanks to a three-run home run by Kacee Cox in the first inning. Linzee Sumrall earned the complete-game victory, striking out eight and limiting Pitt to two runs over seven innings. STJ won the second game, 2-1. Roxy Struble hit a solo homer in the first and Melissa Pilley drove in one run in the fourth. Kat Lawrence tossed a complete game in the win, fanning seven while holding Pittsburgh to one run.
St. John's hitters Cox, Stacia Dopudja, Chelsea Durning and Shauntaine Harris have all enjoyed success at the plate against Pittsburgh. Cox owns a .500 career batting average (5-of-10) against the Panthers with one home run, two doubles, four RBI and one run scored. Dopudja is batting .333 (2-of-6) with one double. Durning has a .308 career mark (4-of-13) with two doubles, one run scored and one stolen base. Harris is hitting at a .333 clip (4-of-12) with two doubles, and two RBI against the Panthers.
The Red Storm will next face Hofstra April 21 in Hempstead, N.Y. STJ then plays a three-game series at Louisville April 24-25.
STORM FRONT
STJ Looks To Build Momentum Off Win Over DePaul: St. John's is coming off a 2-0 victory over DePaul in the second game of their doubleheader April 14 at Red Storm Field. Junior pitcher Kat Lawrence was masterful in the circle against the Blue Demons, tossing a seven-inning, one-hit shutout with five strikeouts.
Durning And Curry Give Red Storm 1-2 Punch Vs. DePaul: Against the Blue Demons, junior left fielder Chelsea Durning and freshman second baseman Amber Curry thrived in the No. 1 and 2 spots, respectively. From the leadoff spot, Durning hit .333, going 2-of-6 with one double, one RBI, two runs scored, one walk and one stolen base. Curry led the way offensively for St. John's, hitting at a .429 clip (3-of-7) with two doubles, two RBI, two runs scored and two stolen bases.
Curry Moving Up STJ Stolen Bases List: Curry upped her season total in stolen bases to 17 with two stolen bases in game one against DePaul, surpassing Erin McDonnell (16, 1986) for sixth place on the St. John's single season list. Curry is two away from tying Donna DosAnjos (18, 1991) and Megan Wiechowski (18, 1995) for fourth place. DosAnjos set the STJ record at 46 in 1990.
Cox Sets New Career High In RBI: Junior catcher Kacee Cox totaled two RBI in the doubleheader against DePaul, setting her new personal single-season high at 36 RBI. That total ranks sixth on St. John's single-season list and just two back of Jo Sherlock's 38 RBI and fifth place. Cox set her previous high of 34 RBI during her 2008 freshman season.
Curry, Montez Show Off Defensive Prowess: In the fifth inning of the first game, Curry came up with a big double play to get pitcher Jordan Tingley out of a bases-loaded jam. With one out, a line drive hit Curry's glove and popped up in the air. The second baseman turned around and located the floating ball to make the grab and rifle a throw to Julia Sanchez at third base for the third out.
In the top of the fifth of the second game, Chrissy Montez made a strong throw to the plate in a 4-6-2 play that prevented a run from scoring. The freshman shortstop made an amazing leaping grab on a lineout to short to get the first out of the sixth. She followed that by fielding a groundout to short for the second out of the inning
BIG EAST Beasts: Cox is batting .382 in conference play with three home runs, four doubles and 15 RBI and six runs scored. Durning has a .364 batting average with seven runs scored, five walks and two stolen bases. Montez is batting .290 with two home runs, five RBI and two runs scored. Curry is hitting .286 with one home run, two doubles, four RBI, nine runs scored and nine stolen bases. Sophomore Meghan Gwynn is hitting .333 with one RBI, one run scored and one walk.
SCOUTING PITTSBURGH
The Panthers are 20-16 this season and 4-2 at home. Pittsburgh is 4-4 through eight BIG EAST games.
Pitt won its three-game series at Georgetown this past weekend. The Panthers won the first game 3-2 in 10 innings and bested the Hoyas 9-1 in the second game. Georgetown edged Pitt for a 2-1 win in 11 innings to close out the series.
The Panthers' top offensive player is junior outfielder Ashley Amistade, who leads the team with a .347 batting average, 43 hits and 24 runs scored. She also has 10 steals. Freshman catcher Holly Stevens is the team's top power hitter with a team-high six home runs to go with 18 RBI. Sophomore outfielder/first baseman Yvette Bravo leads the team with 11 doubles and 25 RBI. Bravo's .265 batting average ranks third on the squad. Kristin Cheesebrew is the Panthers' top base stealer with 11 swipes on the season.
Pitt's top two pitchers have nearly identical statistics. Junior Alyssa O'Connell has a 1.75 ERA, a 9-8 record, 119.2 innings of work and 79 strikeouts. Fellow junior Cory Berliner has a 1.77 ERA with a 9-5 mark, 115.0 innings pitched and 65 K's.
Last season in STJ's 3-2 game-one win, the Red Storm chased O'Connell in the first inning with three runs before she could record an out. Berliner followed with six shutout frames and three strikeouts. In the second game, St. John's tagged Kayla Zinger with the loss after she gave up two runs on six hits and three walks over six frames.
