St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Radford
St. John's Splits Against Radford
3/19/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Game One Box Score (PDF)
Game Two Box Score (PDF)
Follow @StJohnsSoftball on Twitter
RADFORD, Va. -- The St. John's softball team won a 9-7 slugfest against Radford on Sunday afternoon before dropping a 2-0 pitcher's duel in the backend of a road doubleheader to leave Virginia with a two-game split.
GAME ONE: St. John's 9, Radford 7
St. John's exploded for six runs in the third inning en route to a 9-7 win over Radford in the first of two games.
Senior Grace Kramer (3-3) struck out a season-high 11 batters in six innings to earn the victory against the Highlanders, while senior Tori Free secured the Red Storm's seventh win in eight games with a perfect seventh inning.
Junior Savannah Warren led the attack with a career-high four hits, including a grand slam that broke the game open in the third. Junior Lauren Zick recorded her third three-hit performance of the season to go with two stolen bases. Senior Monique Landini went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, while sophomore Christina Melendez scored twice and had a hit and RBI. Gretchen Bowie added two hits and two RBIs for her team leading 16th run-scoring hit of the season.
Radford took an early lead scoring a pair of runs in the second on a two-run homer from Sofia Tapia.
St. John's answered back in the third when Bowie and Zick notched hits and came around to score when Landini put the Johnnies on the board when she ripped a two-run base hit to center. After a hit-by-pitch and walk loaded the bases, Warren hammered a grand slam to center field to give the Red Storm a 6-2 lead.
Melendez sparked a three-run fifth inning when she extended her hit streak to 10 games on an RBI single up the middle. Later in the inning, Bowie drilled a two-run double to right center to make it a 9-2 ballgame.
Radford used a trio of home runs in the sixth to cut the deficit to 9-7 before Free came in and tossed a perfect seventh to lock down her fifth-career save.
GAME TWO: Radford 2, St. John's 0
Despite a solid pitching effort from Madison Morris and McKenzie Murray, St. John's offense was unable to get going in the second game of the doubleheader as the Red Storm dropped a 2-0 decision to move its record to 12-9 on the season.
Landini and Warren had a hit and drew a walk, while Brittany Garcia and Krystal Puga both registered hits as well.
Morris (2-2) collected the loss after allowing two runs, one earned, off two hits over 4.0 innings. Murray fanned three over two scoreless frames.
Radford took advantage of two miscues in the first to take an early 1-0 lead.
Brittany Wratchford made it 2-0 on a solo home run off of Morris in the third.
Short turnaround for the Red Storm as the team heads to Maryland tomorrow to take on the Terrapins at 3 p.m.
