St. John’s Sweeps Thursday Doubleheader Against Sacred Heart

Thursday, April 27

Queens, N.Y. (Red Storm Field)

2:30 p.m.

St. John's University

18-26

Sacred Heart

17-26

Sacred Heart

St. John's

St. John’s Sweeps Thursday Doubleheader Against Sacred Heart

4/27/2023 7:26:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score (PDF)Game 2 Box Score (PDF)

Jess Bianco reaches on all eight plate appearances on the day

By: Andrew Loewe

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's softball team swept both contests of their doubleheader against Sacred Heart on Thursday afternoon at Red Storm Field.

The Red Storm (19-26, 6-12 BIG EAST) took game one against Sacred Heart (17-17, 8-10 NEC), 7-4. In the second game, the Johnnies took a 11-0 victory in five innings.

Jess Bianco had an amazing day at the plate, going five-for-five with seven stolen bases and a trio of walks in both games. With six regular season games remaining, Bianco is just 11 stolen bases shy of tying the St. John's single-season stolen bases record of 46 by Donna Dosanjos in 1990.

Cassidy Stouffer knocked her first collegiate three-hit performance in the first game and launched her first home run in the second part of the doubleheader.

Loreley Francia retired 21 of the 24 batters she faced across the pair of games. In total, she notched 11 strikeouts and allowed just three hits.

Game 1

Bianco was a perfect four-for-four at the plate with four stolen bases and three runs scored.

Francia shut out the Pioneers in relief, retiring all six batters she faced in her two innings while striking out three.

The Johnnies jumped on the board first in the opening frame. St. John's started strong with Bianco and London Jarrard reaching to start the game. Bianco stole her 29^th bag of the season and Jarrard doubled her in with her 15^th double of the season. Jarrard scored on a sacrifice fly by Peyton Cody after she stole third.

The Red Storm extended its lead to 4-0 in the second inning. After Bianco reached on an infield single, she stole her second base of the day and scored for the second time on an RBI-single by Jarrard.

The Johnnies did not let up in the third scoring their fifth run of the game. Katie Whittaker led off the frame with a hit by pitch followed by a Cody single. Stouffer was the third Johnnie to reach base safely, this time on an RBI-single. The Red Storm then loaded the bases with one out, but the Pioneers third baseman made a diving catch and double play on a hard line drive by Sabrina Seaton to end the inning.

The Pioneers broke through against St. John's in the fourth inning. Three of the first four that reached the plate in the frame notched base hits, with the third driving in the first run of the game for Sacred Heart. Ana Serafinko entered the circle for the Red Storm. Emily Carroll recorded a two-RBI single to cut the deficit to 5-3. Three batters later, the Pioneers added their fourth run of the inning on an RBI-single.

Bianco reached for the third time in the bottom half of the inning. She then stole a pair of bases and later scored on a RBI-single by Totarsky. The Johnnies loaded the bases with two outs but the Pioneers reliever Emily Heath was able to escape the jam and hold the score at 6-4, in favor of the Red Storm.

In the bottom of the sixth, Whittaker drove a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left-center field to extend the Johnnies lead to 7-4.

Francia entered in the sixth inning in relief of Serafinko and fired a pair 1-2-3 innings in her two frames of work to notch her second save of the season.

Game 2

Francia literally picked up where she finished, throwing a five-inning complete game shutout after closing out the last two innings of the first game. The freshman improved to 5-5 on the season with her eight-strikeout performance.

Bianco started where she left off, leading off the game with a four-pitch walk to reach for the fifth consecutive time on the day. She then stole two more bags, and scored on a throwing error on the attempt at her at third, giving the Red Storm an early 1-0 lead.

The Red Storm caused a lot of traffic in the second inning and plated a pair of runs. Three consecutive singles loaded the bases with no outs for Amy Mallah. Mallah drove in Whittaker on a sac fly to center, to extend the lead to 2-0. A Seaton single in the next at bat loaded the bases once again. Bianco reached for the sixth time on the day via a walk, to force in the third run of the game. Sacred Heart forced a fielder's choice and a flyout to strand all three Johnnies on base.

For the third consecutive inning, the Red Storm matched the inning number with he amount of runs scored in that frame. Cody and Whittaker opened the frame with a single and a hit by pitch. A few batters later after a walk, Seaton plated the pair with a two-RBI double to left center. Mallah scored the third run of the inning on a wild pitch.

The Johnnies broke the game wide open in the fourth game. Elanna Lysiak plated the seventh run for St. John's with her first career triple. An RBI single by Whittaker and then Stouffer's first career home run opened the lead to 10-0. Bianco made it a perfect day reaching on her eighth-straight plate appearance of the pair of games on a RBI single to extend the lead to 11-0.

Francia shut the door on the Pioneers in the fifth inning, to complete the doubleheader sweep for St. John's.

The Red Storm are set to be back in action on Saturday for a doubleheader against Bucknell with first pitch of the first game set for 12 p.m. A "Senior Day" presentation is set to honor the two graduating seniors after the second game of the day.