St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
7-14
No. 16/16 Michigan
13-6
St. John’s Falls to No. 16/16 Michigan and No. 1/1 UCLA
3/4/2020 1:24:00 AM | Softball
Kaitlin Mattera belted the program’s first home run inside of Easton Stadium
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (March 3, 2020) – The St. John's softball team nearly upset No. 16/16 Michigan before falling to top-ranked UCLA on Tuesday evening at Easton Stadium.
Game 1
The Red Storm battled No. 16/16 Michigan down to the final out before dropping the opening game, 4-2.
Senior Kaitlin Mattera belted her first homer of the season, registering the team's first home run at Easton Stadium. Along with Mattera, Gretchen Bowie also recorded a hit and an RBI against the Wolverines.
Elyse Morris, Laura Delgado and Gabriella Conca all put their names on the scoresheet, each tallying a base hit in game one.
Michigan (13-6) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead following a pair of Red Storm miscues and two Wolverine hits in the opening frame.
The Johnnies fought back in the top of the second, cutting their deficit to one, 2-1. With one out and a 1-1 count, Mattera laced a home run over the right-center wall for the Red Storm's first ever run inside of Easton Stadium.
Michigan responded in the bottom half with another two-run inning while leaving the bases loaded for the second time in as many frames.
The Red Storm continue to pester the Wolverines, tagging the home squad with another run in the top of the third. Following a pair of singles from Conca and Morris, Bowie rocketed a groundball towards Michigan's Julia Jimenez that took a wild bounce off the dirt and over the shortstop's head for an RBI single, slashing the Johnnies' deficit to two, 4-2.
St. John's held the Wolverines to a scoreless bottom of the third after Conca launched a throw to Bowie at third base to double up the runner tagging from second to end the frame. In the team's seven games in California, the Red Storm recorded seven double plays.
Junior Kayla Kmett pitched a near-flawless four innings of relief against the 16th-ranked team in the country, allowing no runs on two hits with a pair of walks on 53 pitches.
Both teams were held off the board through the final three innings, despite the Red Storm's ability to put a runner on second with one out in the final frame.
Game 2
St. John's fell to defending National Champion UCLA, 9-0, in five innings.
The Johnnies racked up two more double plays against the Bruins (20-1), extending its West Coast total to nine.
The nation's top team delivered eight runs in the bottom of the first before going down 1-2-3 in the following inning.
After UCLA extended its lead to 9-0 in the bottom of the third, the Red Storm turned its first of two double plays on a muffed infield fly that caused confusion on the base path, forcing a tag at the plate to turn two.
In the following inning, Mattera stepped on first before trying to catch a runner at the dish but inadvertently forced a runner interference in the process for the second double play.
The Red Storm will head back to the Tri-State area for the first time this season as the team takes on FDU in Teaneck, N.J., on March 11 at 3:30 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sosa, Lexi (3-0)
L: Saric, Angela (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Perez, Briana 1 ; Brady, Maya 1
HR: Washington, Kinsley 1
RBI: Washington, Kinsley 4 ; Perez, Briana 1 ; Brady, Maya 1 ; Garcia, Alyssa 1 ; Rodriguez, Julie 1 ; Godin, Kelli 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Washington, Kinsley 2 ; Perez, Briana 1 ; Brady, Maya 1 ; Wisz, Delanie 1 ; Garcia, Alyssa 1 ; Rodriguez, Julie 1 ; Prober, Jacqui 1 ; Curo, Seneca 1
SB: Perez, Briana 1
