HOME OPENER: Softball Heads To Queens To Face Dartmouth

March 18, 2015

· GAME NOTES
· LIVE STATS
· LIVE AUDIO (Subscription Required)
· 2015 Overall Season Stats
· Follow St. John's Softball on Twitter

QUEENS, N.Y. - After inclement weather has forced an 11-day hiatus, the St. John's softball team (6-12) will return to the diamond to compete in its home-opener against Dartmouth on March 19 at 3 p.m.

Leading Off

Thursday's game will have an audio-only broadcast with Ralph Bednarczyk (PxP) and Scott Greene (Color) on the call. Fans can access the audio stream by visiting RedStormSports.com
The Red Storm is coming off a 2-1 performance at the JMU Dukes Invitational where it outscored its opponents, 27-20.
In that tournament, the St. John's offense went .398 (35-for-88) with eight doubles, three home runs, 25 RBI and 15 walks while going 4-for-4 in stolen bases.
The midweek matchup marks only the third ever meeting between St. John's and Dartmouth after a doubleheader back on April 15, 1995 where the Red Storm earned a shutout sweep over the Big Green, winning game one, 1-0, before taking game two, 8-0.
After being forced to cancel the inaugural St. John's Invitational last weekend due to unplayable field conditions, the Red Storm has not played a game since March 8 where it defeated Rhode Island, 15-5, in a five-inning game at the JMU Dukes Invitational.
St. John's is 19-15 in program history in its home opener, winning 12 of its last 15 games, including a 4-3 victory over Manhattan to kick off the home slate last season.
The Red Storm is 108-93-2 when playing on Red Storm Field since its creation in 2001. Last season, SJU finished 7-4 overall when playing at home.
Live stats will be available on RedStormSports.com and fans can always join in the conversation on Twitter (@StJohnsSoftball) by using #SJUSB.

Storm Tracker

Sophomore Monique Landini has been hot at the plate lately, batting .619 (13-for-21) with a double, four RBI and six walks with a .704 on-base percentage and a .667 slugging percentage over her last seven games, striking out only once during that time.
Freshman Krystal Puga is leading the Red Storm offense after an impressive start to her rookie campaign. The first-baseman holds a .432 (16-for-37) batting average with a double, four home runs and a team-leading 13 RBI for a .784 slugging percentage and has successfully reached base in her last 13 games while earning a hit in six of them.
Senior Erin Burner, a NFCA first team All-Great Lakes Region selection and unanimous first team All-BIG EAST catcher last season, has successfully reached base in 16 of the team's 18 games and is currently on a seven-game hitting streak. The senior has also been nominated as a potential candidate for the 2015 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) draft, held on April 1 in Nashville, Tenn.
Last weekend at the JMU Dukes Invitational, the Red Storm saw 11 different members either match or set career-high numbers.
In the opening game of that tournament, head coach Amy Kvilhaug also picked up her 300th career victory as a head coach with an 8-5 victory over Stony Brook.

Around The BIG EAST (as of 3/17/15)

As a team, the Red Storm offense is third in the league in batting average (.280), second in on-base percentage (.367) and fifth in slugging percentage (.377).
The St. John's pitching staff is currently fifth in the league with a 4.67 ERA and ranks fourth with 95 combined strikeouts this season.
The Red Storm is one of only two teams in the league (Butler) who has picked off a runner this season.
Individually, Erin Burner ranks tied for fifth in the league in on-base percentage (.462) with Monique Landini just behind her in seventh with a .450 OBP.
Erin Burner and Brittany Garcia are tied with four other BIG EAST members with six doubles this season.
Freshman McKenzie Murray is seventh in the BIG EAST with a 2.84 ERA while Tori Free is eighth with a 3.10 ERA and a league-leading .174 opponent batting average.
Grace Kramer is tied for fifth in the league with 13 appearances and leads the BIG EAST with nine relief appearances for the Red Storm this season.

SCOUTING REPORT: Dartmouth

The Big Green is coming off of a tough 1-0 loss to Hofstra on Wednesday afternoon despite a complete-game five-hitter by senior Kristen Rumley.
The defending Ivy League Champions are coming off a 31-19 performance last season, including an 18-2 conference mark that led them to the automatic bid into the NCAA Regional in Tempe, Arizona.
The Dartmouth offense is led by junior shortstop Katie McEachern who is batting .351 (13-for-37) with five home runs, 11 RBI and nine walks for a .838 slugging percentage and a .529 on-base percentage.
Senior Kristen Rumley is the ace of the Dartmouth pitching staff, holding a 3-8 record with a 2.72 ERA and 42 strikeouts through 64.1 innings of work, throwing eight complete games in that time while holding opponents to a .245 batting average.
Dartmouth is led by first-year head coach Shannon Doepking, a four-year standout catcher at Tennessee who previously served as the head coach of Amherst College.

SERIES HISTORY: Dartmouth

St. John's currently holds a 2-0 all-time series record over Dartmouth after earning a doubleheader sweep over the Big Green, picking up a pair of shutout victories, 1-0 and 8-0, at home back in 1995.

On Deck

The Red Storm will kick off league play at home this weekend as it hosts defending conference-champion DePaul in a three-game series on March 21-22, giving fans a rematch of the 2014 BIG EAST Championship game.

For all the latest news on the St. John's softball team, log on to RedStormSports.com and follow the team (@StJohnsSoftball) on Twitter. You can join the conversation with the hashtag, #SJUSB. If you would like to be added to the St. John's softball mailing list, send an email to stjcommunications@stjohns.edu with the subject line "Softball Mailing List."

St. John's University Athletics

HOME OPENER: Softball Heads To Queens To Face Dartmouth

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