St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Connecticut
Red Storm Falls on Opening Day of Hofstra Invitational
3/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
• Game One Box Score (PDF)
• Game Two Box Score (PDF)
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HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Quiet bats proved costly as the St. John's softball team (8-10) dropped a pair of games on Saturday at Bill Edwards Stadium to open play at the Hofstra Invitational. The Red Storm lost the opening game, 5-0, to Connecticut before falling, 5-1, to Hofstra in the second contest.
GAME ONE: Connecticut 5, St. John's 0
Despite outhitting Connecticut, four to three, seven walked batters and a timely three-run home run helped push the Huskies over the Red Storm, 5-0, in the opener.
UConn opened the first with three runs on two hits to go up early. A leadoff walk by Taylor Townsend and a bunt single from Kelli Bater put a pair of runners on-base before Grace Kramer picked up one of her three strikeouts on the day. With two-on and one-out, Alyson Ambler hit a three-run homer to put the Huskies up 3-0.
In the third, UConn would push across another run on Kramer before Madison Morris came in to relieve the junior and retire the final two outs of the inning. A walk and steal by Lexi Gifford put a runner in scoring position for Dominique Pinto, who singled to right center to extend the Huskies lead to 4-0.
Back-to-back singles by Lauren Zick and Yvonne Rericha to open the fifth gave the Red Storm its best chance of the game. However, UConn starter Chelsea Eckert buckled down and recorded three-straight outs to end the threat.
Another run in the fifth made it 5-0 for the Huskies in the fifth. A leadoff walk came back to hurt St. John's as a fielding error by Rericha in right allowed Gifford to come around and score.
The Red Storm put pressure on Eckert in the sixth. With two outs, Monique Landini was thrown out at home by right fielder Heather Fyfe trying to score, ending the inning for the Huskies.
Eckert (2-7) picks up her second win in the complete game shutout. The sophomore struck out seven and allowed four hits as UConn moves to 5-14 on the season.
Kramer falls to 4-2 on the season as she allowed four runs on three hits in 2.1 innings. Morris was excellent in relief, allowing one unearned run in 3.2 innings of no-hit ball for the Red Storm.
Rericha now has four games with at least two hits this season after going 2-for-4 at the plate. Brittany Garcia and Zick accounted for the other two St. John's hits.
GAME TWO: Hofstra 5, St. John's 1
A five-run, five-hit fourth inning was all the run support Hofstra starter Jessica Peslak needed as the Red Storm dropped a 5-1 result to the Pride in their second game of the day.
St. John's took an early advantage over the Pride with a run in the third. Kaitlyn Wilkens got hit-by-a-pitch to open the frame and moved over to second on a nicely executed sacrifice bunt by Lexi Robles. Next at-bat, Zick notched an infield single to move over Taylor Stimson to third, who pinch ran for Wilkens. Rericha drove in her fifth run of the season on a sacrifice fly to plate Stimson and give St. John's a 1-0 lead.
Hofstra (9-7) answered back with five runs in the fourth off St. Johns starter McKenzie Murray. Consecutive singles and a walk loaded the bases for Michaela Transue, who laid down a safety squeeze bunt to score Kim Smith and put Hofstra on the board. Murray's wild pitch plated the second run of the frame. RBI singles from Brielle Pietrafesa and Nikki Michalowski extended the Pride lead to 5-0 before Garcia ended the inning by throwing out a runner at home from center field trying to score on the play.
Other than the fourth, Murray (0-4) did not allow a hit in the complete game effort for St. John's. The sophomore finished with five strikeouts, but allowed five runs on five hits to drop her record to 0-4 on the season.
The Johnnies did not go down easy, loading the bases in the seventh. With two outs and the bases juiced, Rericha flied out to left field to secure Hofstra's ninth win of the season.
Jessica Peslak (6-4) did a solid job keeping the Red Storm bats cool for most of the game. The junior right hander earned the win after giving up one run on three hits in 7.0 innings.
Sophomore Savannah Warren registered her team-leading fourth double, while Landini and Zick logged the other two hits.
Consecutive losses on the day, drops the Red Storm to 8-10 on the season.
St. John's looks to avenge both defeats tomorrow beginning with an 11 a.m. showdown against Hofstra.
For all the latest news on the St. John's softball team, log on to RedStormSports.com and follow the team (@StJohnsSoftball) on Twitter. 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".
