St. John’s Drops a Pair of Contests to No. 1/1 Texas and Lamar

Saturday, February 8

Beaumont, Texas (LU Softball Complex)

1 p.m.

St. John's University

1-2

No. 1/1 Texas

3-0

TEXAS

St. John's

St. John’s Drops a Pair of Contests to No. 1/1 Texas and Lamar

2/8/2025 7:47:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score (Texas)Box Score (Lamar)

The Red Storm fell to the Longhorns, 5-0, before dropping in extra innings to the Cardinals, 4-3

By: Josh McLaren

BEAUMONT, Texas – The St. John's softball team (1-3) dropped a pair of contests to No. 1/1 Texas and Lamar on Saturday at the LU Softball Complex.

To open the day, the Red Storm fell to the country's top-ranked Longhorns, 5-0. In the latter game, the Johnnies rallied from a three-run deficit with two outs in the seventh before falling to the Cardinals in the eighth inning, 4-3.

St. John's tallied 12 hits in the latter contest against Lamar, marking its second double-digit hitting performance of the early season after recording 10 hits at Houston yesterday.

Loreley Francia entered in relief in both contests, tossing 5.2 combined innings. The junior punched out seven batters and only surrendered one run on the day.

Senior Anese Thompson drilled a crucial RBI double into right field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh against the Cardinals. Thompson tallied two hits in the contest and drew a pair of walks between the two games.

Elanna Lysiak delivered the game-tying hit against Lamar, driving a two-RBI single into center field to knot the game at three. The Wheatfield, N.Y., product leads the team with three RBIs through four games.

Third baseman Madison Konopka tallied a 3-for-4 game against the Cardinals. The freshman leads the Red Storm offense with six hits this season.

Game 1

Texas (3-0) jumped out to an early one-run lead in the top of the first on a Reese Atwood RBI double, but St. John's starter Ana Serafinko limited damage, getting the next batter to fly out to center field.

In the bottom half of the opening frame, Jess Bianco led off the contest with a single through the left side. Texas' starter Cambria Salmon avoided any damage, keeping the score at 1-0 in favor of the Longhorns.

Serafinko found her footing inside the circle following the first, tossing a pair of scoreless frames to keep the score at 1-0 through three innings of play.

The Longhorns then increased their lead, plating a pair of runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, 5-0.

Thompson produced the second Red Storm base runner of the contest with a lead-off walk in the bottom of the fifth, but Texas left the frame unscathed, holding its five-run advantage.

Francia came in relief and kept the Red Storm within striking distance, tossing a scoreless sixth and seventh while recording a pair of punchouts to hold the score at 5-0.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, London Jarrard drilled a single back up the middle and Thompson was hit by a pitch to put two runners on, but the Longhorns recorded a double play, ending the contest and sealing the 5-0 victory.

Game 2

St. John's threatened in the top of the first after Konopka reached on an infield single and Thompson walked, but Lamar's Emma Wardlaw recorded the third out to keep the contest scoreless.

The Cardinals (3-0) put two runners on as well in the bottom half of the first, but starter Carolina Zamudio worked her way around the threat, 0-0.

In the top of the second, Celia Macari and Melanie Santos strung together a pair of singles to provide the Johnnies with another scoring opportunity before Wardlaw tallied the final out to leave the frame unscathed.

Zamudio worked herself out of another tight jam by recording her second punchout of the inning after Lamar loaded the bases in the home half of the second, 0-0.

The Johnnies loaded the bases to start the top of the third after Konopka singled, Jarrard walked and Thompson singled. Wardlaw then retired the next three batters to get out of yet another jam, 0-0.

Lamar plated the first run of the ballgame in the bottom of the third on a Cala Wilson RBI double into the right-center gap, 1-0. Freshman Jailynn Banda then entered the circle and limited the damage, retiring the next two batters and tallying the first strikeout of her career.

In the fourth, the Cardinals tacked on two more runs to increase their lead to 3-0.

Francia entered the game for the Red Storm in the fifth and tossed two scoreless innings of relief, including striking out the side in the sixth, 3-0.

The Red Storm rallied in the top of the seventh when Bianco singled to left and Konopka reached on a bunt single to put two on with one out. Lamar then retired the second out before Thompson smacked an RBI double over the right fielder, 3-1. Lysiak delivered the game-tying single into center field, bringing home Konopka and Thompson, 3-3.

In the home half of the seventh, Francia tossed a second consecutive 1-2-3 inning, keeping the game knotted and sending it into extra innings.

Lamar walked the game off on a Gracee Hess RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to win 4-3.

St. John's will wrap up its time in the Lone Star State when it takes on New Mexico at 11 a.m. ET. Live Stats will be available on RedStormSports.com.