St. John’s Drops Series Finale to DePaul, 3-1

Sunday, March 26

Queens, N.Y. (Red Storm Field)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

12-14, 0

DePaul

9-16, 0

DePaul

St. John's

3/26/2023 2:52:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Red Storm win its second straight BIG EAST series to open conference play

By: Andrew Loewe

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's softball team dropped the series finale to DePaul, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon at Red Storm Field.

The Red Storm (12-14, 4-2 BIG EAST) won its second BIG EAST series of the season, and its first against DePaul (9-16, 1-5 BIG EAST) since 2016, and its second in program history.

Hannah Mearns was in the circle for the second time this weekend, notching a game-high six punch-outs.

For the third straight game, the Blue Demons struck first in the opening inning. Leadoff batter, Anna Wohlers drove a 2-1 pitch over the fence in right to put DePaul on the board.

In the bottom half, the Red Storm had their first scoring chance of the contest. The inning started unconventionally with a caught stealing, and a batter called out for being out of the box. The next two Johnnies reached on a walk and an error to put runners on the corners with two outs. The Red Storm popped up to end the inning and the scoring threat.

DePaul added a pair of runs in the top of the fourth on a two-RBI double by Bayley Cosgrove, who was then caught advancing to third on a perfect relay from Maeve Marra to London Jarrard to Amy Mallah to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Johnnies loaded the bases with one out. Bianco reached on a single before a fielder's choice and a Katie Whittaker walk. Anese Thompson pushed the first run across the Red Storm on a RBI single to right field plating Bianco. DePaul freshman hurler Bella Nigey forced the next two hitters to pop up to neutralize the St. John's scoring chance.

Nigey clinched the victory by setting down the St. John's side in order to earn her fifth victory of the season.

St. John's will have a full slate next week opening on Wednesday at LIU, with first pitch set for 3 p.m. The Red Storm will then travel to Seton Hall for its first BIG EAST road series of the season. The series is scheduled to be the first three-games in three consecutive days for the Johnnies.