St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Creighton
St. John's Opens Series with Two Wins Over Creighton
4/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Game One Box Score (PDF)
Game Two Box Score (PDF)
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QUEENS, N.Y. -- The St. John's softball team secured its third-straight BIG EAST series win on Saturday with a pair of victories over Creighton, defeating the Bluejays, 8-6 and 4-1, respectively.
The Red Storm (25-19) moved two games over .500 in conference play with a 9-7 record, while Creighton drops to 25-19 overall and 7-8 in the BIG EAST.
GAME ONE: St. John's 8, Creighton 6
With two on and the score knotted at six in the bottom of the sixth inning, Yvonne Rericha ripped a two-run double to left to propel St. John's to an 8-6 victory in the series opener.
Kramer (13-11) went the distance for the 12th time this season to earn the victory for the Red Storm. The junior struck out seven and allowed six runs, three earned, on eight hits.
Sydnee Eck (13-9) was tabbed with the loss after surrendering three runs on six hits in 2.0 innings of relief. Micaela Whitney was charged with five runs on nine hits and walked seven batters over 4.0 innings.
Eight players combined for 15 hits against a pitching staff that holds the conference's second best ERA. Hannah Anderson had a career-day going 4-for-4 with an RBI and run, while Lauren Zick collected three hits and scored twice. Krystal Puga hit her team-leading seventh home run of the season, while Brittany Garcia hit a triple and drove in two runs. Yvonne Rericha and Monique Landini combined to record four hits, three RBI and two runs.
St. John's got on the board early with three runs on three hits in the second frame. Singles by Anderson and Zick followed by a walk from Rericha loaded the bases. Landini drove in the first run of the game on an infield single. Garcia then drew a bases loaded walk before Puga's 28th RBI made it 3-0.
After facing the minimum across the first three innings, Creighton got to Kramer for six runs in the fourth. Allie Reinhart erased the shutout with an RBI single to score her team's first run. A fielding error by Puga at first base allowed two to score before Sam Crowley's bunt single gave her team the lead. Aujanae McCoy's two run double extended Creighton's lead to 6-3.
The Red Storm answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fourth to cut the lead to one. Puga smashed her team leading seventh home run to left center. Warren singled and came around to score on a base hit by Anderson.
Garcia's RBI triple off Eck in her first inning of relief tied the game in the fifth.
In the sixth, St. John's made its move as Kaitlyn Wilkens and Zick reached on singles to set up Rericha's game winning double.
Kramer closed out the victory by striking out two of the final three outs in the seventh inning.
GAME TWO: St. John's 4, Creighton 1
McKenzie Murray (5-4) followed up a dominant weekend against DePaul with another overpowering performance to lift the Red Storm to a 4-1 series clinching win. The sophomore struck out a career-high 10 batters en route to her fifth win of the season and third in as many appearances. The reigning BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week gave up one run, none earned, and allowed only five hits during the complete game effort.
Creighton starter Michal Hylton got the loss as she allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits in 2.1 innings of work. Whitney finished up the ball game by tossing 3.2 scoreless frames.
Savannah Warren spearheaded the attack as she notched two hits and three RBI fueled by a three-run shot. Puga, Rericha and Wilkens each had a hit and scored a run. Anderson, Garcia, Landini, Zick and Christina Melendez were responsible for the other five hits for St. John's.
In the bottom of the first, Warren got the offense going with a three home run over the left field wall to put St. John's up 3-0.
Next inning, the Johnnies tacked on another run to make it 4-0. After a single, Wilkens scored on a throwing error by Creighton catcher Blake Ringle when Rericha was stealing second.
Murray and the Red Storm never looked back as she cruised through three innings before giving up an unearned run in the fourth. The Bluejays capitalized on a fielding error and scored on Katie Pascuzzi's RBI single to center.
St. John's looks for its first series sweep tomorrow at 11 a.m. The finale will be aired on ESPN3 with Ariel Agami and Nkwa Asonye providing coverage.
