St. John’s Shuts Out Southern 8-0 in Florida Finale

Sunday, February 12

Clearwater, Fla. (Eddie C. Moore Complex Field 1)

10 a.m.

St. John's University

1-3

Southern

0-4

St. John's

Southern

St. John’s Shuts Out Southern 8-0 in Florida Finale

2/12/2023 1:01:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Red Storm were led by Whittaker’s two home run game and Zamudio’s complete game shutout

By: Andrew Loewe

QUEENS, N.Y. (Feb. 12, 2023) – The St. John's softball team was dominant in its Florida finale against Southern securing the 5-0 win against southern on Sunday morning at Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla.

The Red Storm (1-3) earned their first win of the road trip in grand fashion.

Carolina Zamudio pitched a gem in her second outing of the season. The sophomore started out the game striking out six of first eight Southern hitters. Zamudio finished with eight strikeouts and allowed only four hits. The hurler did not issue any free passes as she allowed zero walks and hit batters.

Freshman Katie Whittaker had one of the best games by any player of the tournament belting two home runs on the day. She broke the game open with a grand slam in the third inning. With the bases juiced, Whittaker crushed a pitch to deep left easily clearing the fence, to send the Johnnies bench into pandemonium. The freshman's grand slam was the first by a St. John's hitter since Peyton Cody in 2019 against LIU Brooklyn. Whittaker tacked on an insurance run for the Red Storm with a solo shot for her second of the day.

In the first inning, the Red Storm struck first on an RBI groundout by Anese Thompson to score London Jarrard after she tripled as the second batter of the game. It was then Zamudio's turn who put up back-to-back 1-2-3 innings to set the table for the Red Storm third inning. The sophomore recorded two strikeouts in each inning.

In the top of the third inning, the Red Storm started out strong. A lead-off walk by Sydney Totarsky, a bunt single by Jess Bianco and a walk by Jarrard loaded the bases for the Johnnies with one out. On a 1-1 count, Whittaker crushed a down-the-middle pitch over the center field fence for a grand slam to give St. John's a 5-0 lead.

Zamudio continued to deal, holding the Jaguars from scoring after a two-out triple in the bottom half of the third. The Mexico City, Mex. native allowed one base runner over the course of the next three innings, dominating Jaguars hitters.

The Red Storm added three insurance runs in the final two innings. Back-to-back doubles by Amy Mallah and Natalie Alheidt scored a run in the top of the sixth. In the top of seventh, Whittaker belted her second round-tripper of the day with a solo shot to right-center field. Later in the inning, Mallah added an RBI to her stat line driving in Cassidy Stouffer to score the eighth run of the game for the Johnnies.

Zamudio closed the game for the Jaguars in the bottom of the seventh. Despite allowing the first two Southern batters to reach base, a double play started by Mallah and a ground out clinched the win for the Red Storm.

St. John's will briefly return to Queens before embarking for Athens, Ga. The squad will play five games in three days once again featuring matchups against current top 25 team, Georgia and Stanford.