St. John’s Softball Splits Doubleheader with UMass-Lowell

Saturday, March 6

Queens, N.Y. (Red Storm Field)

12 P.M.

St. John's University

2-0

Massachusetts Lowell

0-1

UMass-Lowell

St. John's

St. John’s Softball Splits Doubleheader with UMass-Lowell

3/6/2021 7:16:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score Game Two Box Score Game One Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

Red Storm wins game one, 8-7, and drops game two, 6-4

By: Kenny Conrade

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's softball team split its doubleheader with UMass-Lowell on Saturday afternoon on a brisk afternoon at Red Storm Field.

The Johnnies (2-1) took the opening game, 8-7, behind a career performance from Marissa Rizzi in which she hit two home runs. The Red Storm scored two runs on Peyton Cody's clutch two-out, two RBI double in the sixth inning which proved to be the difference. St. John's took an early lead in game two but ran into the hot relief pitching of UMass-Lowell's Ryley White, who kept the Red Storm's bats scoreless over six innings of work.

In addition to Rizzi's two home runs, Gretchen Bowie added two home runs of her own on the day, including an inside-the-park round-tripper in game one. Rizzi scored five of the Red Storm's 14 runs on the afternoon, including the game-winning run in game one's sixth inning rally on Cody's two-out double.

In the circle, Angela Saric (1-0) earned the win in the first game for the Johnnies, striking out six over 5.2 innings of work and surrendering just two runs. Erin Brown was strong in relief in game two, allowing one run and striking out five in four innings.

Game One

The Red Storm fell behind early in game one, 1-0, behind a leadoff home run from Courtney Cashman, but answered quickly. In the home half of the first, Bowie hit an inside-the-park home run, which was followed up by a Rizzi blast over the right-center field wall as the two graduate students went back-to-back. Peyton Cody would add a triple and come around to score for the Johnnies, giving them a 3-1 lead after one.

The RiverHawks (1-1) would tack on four more over the next two innings, bringing the score to 5-3, as Head Coach Bob Guerriero pulled Brown in favor of Angela Saric. Trailing by two in the home half of the third, the Johnnies began to chip away thanks to Rizzi's second home run of game one, a solo shot to left to narrow the deficit, 5-4.

The two teams would play a scoreless inning and a half from there, as the Red Storm continued to trail heading to the bottom of the fifth. Rizzi led the inning off with a single and came around to score before her fellow graduate student, Kaitlin Mattera, singled and her pinch runner, Natalie Alheidt, came around to score and give the Johnnies the lead, 6-5.

The RiverHawks answered with the only blemish on Saric's resume over her five-plus innings of work, as they pushed two runs across in the top of the sixth to regain the lead, 7-6.

In the bottom of the inning, Cody crushed a two-run double with two outs, plating Elyse Morris and Rizzi to give the Johnnies a lead which they would not relinquish, as Saric retired the side in the top of the seventh to give the Red Storm the 8-7 victory.

Game Two

Kayla Kmett got the start for the Johnnies in game two and got into some early trouble, surrendering three runs in the top of the first inning as UMass-Lowell would send seven batters to the plate. The Red Storm would answer, as Morris reached base to lead-off the inning and Bowie hit her second home run of the day to bring the score to 3-2.

The Johnnies weren't finished yet in the first, as with Cody and Rizzi aboard, Kalei Sorensen blasted what looked like a home run over the left-center field fence. Following the ball leaving the yard, the umpires ruled that Sorensen had passed Cody at first base, meaning that Rizzi and Cody would score, but ruling Sorensen out. After an inning of play, the Red Storm led, 4-3.

Kmett surrendered an additional run in the second inning, and the Johnnies offense ran into White, who shut them down over the next six innings of play. The UMass-Lowell freshman pitcher threw six innings of scoreless ball, surrendering just two Red Storm hits that both came in the sixth inning. In that frame, the Red Storm had runners on second and third with two outs but could not push a run across.

Brown worked the final four innings of the game for the Red Storm, allowing one run on four hits and striking out five. The Johnnies brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning, but a diving play in right field on a Cody line drive sealed the victory for UMass-Lowell, their first of the season.

St. John's will be back in action on Wednesday when they head to the Bronx to visit Fordham before opening conference play at home vs. DePaul next weekend with a doubleheader on Saturday.