St. John's University Athletics

St. John’s Splits Day Two at the USF Series
3/9/2019 11:59:00 PM | Softball
Late-game heroics push St. John’s over USC Upstate before falling to USF
Game 1
With its back against the wall, the Red Storm's timely hitting downed the Spartans, 10-8, in eight innings.
Momentum shifted in USC Upstate's direction after recording a six-run sixth to take a 7-6 lead into the final frame. However, the Johnnies would not go down quietly. With two outs and runners on second and third, Laura Delgado stepped up to the plate. The Hesperia, Calif., native was down to her final strike when she lined a single down the right field line to score Kaitlin Mattera and Peyton Cody, putting the Johnnies on top, 8-7.
Spartans' Alicia Dorgen responded with a solo homer in the seventh to send the game to extras tied at eight.
In the eighth, St. John's placed Amelia Ditolvo on second following the international tie breaker rules. The Red Storm's shortstop came around to score on an RBI single to center field by Marissa Rizzi to take a one-run lead, 9-8. Two batters later, Cody also knocked an RBI single to center to extend the Johnnies' advantage to two, 10-8.
Coming into the weekend series, USC Upstate was ranked first in the NCAA with a combined 0.84 ERA. Until this afternoon, the Spartans' had not allowed more than four runs in a game this season. St. John's also doubled USC Upstate's Christina Biggerstaff's run total to 14 after she allowed seven earned runs in 6.0 innings of work on Saturday.
It was expected to be a pitcher's duel between St. John's Madison Morris and one of the NCAA's ERA leaders Biggerstaff, but the game turned into a hit parade. Five Johnnies registered two or more hits against the Spartans' staff with Delgado and Cody finishing with three apiece. St. John's 14 hits were a season high, as were the team's 10 runs.
The starting pitchers exchanged scoreless frames in the first and second before the Spartans (15-5) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third. After a leadoff triple to left-center by Sarah Price, Brittany Case followed with single to center to take a one-run advantage.
St. John's countered USC Upstate's tally with a four-spot in the top of the fourth. Meisha Murray came in to pinch run for Christina Melendez who worked a leadoff walk. The rookie outfielder swiped second to put a runner in scoring position. Two batters later, Natalie Giroux hit a hard single to third base and brought Murray home to score, tying the game, 1-1.
Giroux extended the inning by beating the Spartans' shortstop Price to third base on a single by Laura Delgado. In the next at-bat, Amelia Ditolvo worked a two-out, bases loaded walk to take the lead, 2-1. Following the base on balls, Gretchen Bowie smacked a two-run single to left-center, bringing Kaitlyn Lologo and Delgado around to score, 4-1. The Sparta, N.J., native is three RBIs shy of reaching 100 for her career.
After holding the Spartans scoreless in the bottom of the fourth, Giroux drove in her second run of the game on a single to right center to give the Red Storm a 5-1 advantage.
St. John's extended its lead to five, 6-1, when Ditolvo crossed the plate before Bowie got thrown out at home for trying to stretch her triple into an inside-the-park home run in the sixth.
USC Upstate charged back in the home frame, scoring six runs in the sixth to take a one-run lead. The Spartans started the inning with a solo homer down the left field line, cutting the lead to four, 6-2. After Alicia Dorgen got hit by a pitch, Erin Hill drilled USC Upstate's second dinger of the inning to left field, slashing its deficit to two, 6-4. Megan Obier knocked Morris out of the game on a two-run triple, tying the matchup at six. The Spartans' scored its final run of the frame on a base knock to center by Alyssa Oakes to take a 7-6 lead heading into the seventh.
The Johnnies outscored the Spartans' 4-1 in the final two innings to take down USC Upstate, 10-8.
Game 2
South Florida run-ruled the Johnnies, 12-2, in Clearwater on Saturday evening
Laura Delgado continued to provide a base runner for the Red Storm, registering her second multi-hit game of the day with a 2-for-2 performance against the Bulls. She finished Saturday batting 5-for-6 with a run scored and two RBIs.
USF (17-10) scored four runs in the opening frame. Following a solo homer by leadoff batter Lindsey Devitt, the Bulls strung together four more hits to lead, 4-0, after one inning of play. After a scoreless second frame, South Florida's Riley Gore sent a three-run shot over the left-field wall to make it a 7-0 ball game through three.
St. John's tallied its first run of the game in the fourth on an RBI single to left field by freshman Kaitlyn Lologo, cutting the Johnnies' deficit to six, 7-1. Sophomore Gabriella Conca scored on the play after reaching base on a double over the center fielder's head.
The Bulls tacked on five more runs in the home half of the inning to take a 12-1 advantage.
Kaitlin Mattera inched closer to her 100th career hit in the fifth when she knocked Peyton Cody in on a single to right field, cutting the team's deficit to ten, 12-2. The Coventry, R.I., native is also three shy of reaching the century mark.
The Red Storm will close out its spring break trip with a matchup against Central Florida at 11:15 a.m., on Sunday before heading back to Queens.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Saric, Angela (2-4)
L: BIGGERSTAFF, C. (9-1)

Batting:
3B: Bowie, Gretchen 1
RBI: Ditolvo, Amelia 1 ; Bowie, Gretchen 3 ; Rizzi, Marissa 1 ; Cody, Peyton 1 ; Giroux, Natalie 2 ; Delgado, Laura 2
SH: Ditolvo, Amelia 1 ; Giroux, Natalie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ditolvo, Amelia 2 ; Rizzi, Marissa 1 ; Melendez, Christina 1 ; Murray, Meisha 1 ; Cody, Peyton 1 ; Freveletti, Anna 1 ; Giroux, Natalie 1 ; Lologo, Kaitlyn 1 ; Delgado, Laura 1
SB: Murray, Meisha 1 ; Cody, Peyton 1
HBP: Lologo, Kaitlyn 1

Batting:
3B: PRICE, Sarah 1 ; OBIER, Megan 1
HR: CECCHETTI, Elisa 1 ; DORGAN, Alicia 1 ; HILL, Erin 1
RBI: CASE, Brittany 1 ; OBIER, Megan 2 ; OAKES, Alyssa 1 ; CECCHETTI, Elisa 1 ; DORGAN, Alicia 1 ; HILL, Erin 2
Base Running:
RUNS: PRICE, Sarah 2 ; CASE, Brittany 1 ; OBIER, Megan 1 ; CECCHETTI, Elisa 1 ; DORGAN, Alicia 2 ; HILL, Erin 1
CS: CASE, Brittany 1
HBP: HELTON, Makenna 1 ; DORGAN, Alicia 1