Red Storm Heads to Florida for Stetson Invitational After Historic 10-Game Start

Friday, February 20

DeLand, Fla. (Patricia Wilson Field)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

Columbia

Red Storm Heads to Florida for Stetson Invitational After Historic 10-Game Start

2/19/2026 1:11:00 PM | Softball

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St. John’s returns to the Sunshine State for five games at the Stetson Invitational

QUEENS, N.Y. — Riding its best start in program history, the St. John's softball team will head back to the Sunshine State this weekend for the Stetson Invitational on Feb. 20-22 at Patricia Wilson Field in DeLand, Fla.

The Johnnies (9-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) enter their next slate coming off the best 10-game start in program history, surpassing the 1998 squad that opened 7-3. St. John's will face host Stetson twice and local foe Columbia three times over the three-day event.

The Red Storm is fresh off a perfect 5-0 showing at The Spring Games in Leesburg, Fla., defeating Alabama State, LIU, Bethune-Cookman and Southern Mississippi twice. St. John's holds an 8-0 record in neutral site games, which ranks fourth nationally among NCAA Division I programs.

Following the dominant weekend, Ana Serafinko was named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week on Monday after improving to 4-0 with a 0.38 ERA and 58 strikeouts across 36.2 innings of work this season. The award marked the fifth pitcher of the week honor of her career and first of 2026.

Cassidy Stouffer was also named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the first time in her career after batting 5-for-9 with a home run and three RBIs at The Spring Games.
Serafinko and fellow pitcher Loreley Francia continue to anchor inside the circle, owning a 1.85 team ERA with 87 strikeouts in 72 innings. Francia sits at 4-1 with a 2.55 ERA over 33 innings of work.

Offensively, St. John's is hitting .346 as a team with 101 hits and 57 runs scored through 10 games. Jess Bianco leads the lineup with a .529 batting average, 18 hits and 12 RBIs, while London Slade is batting .471 with 16 hits. Natasha Limbani adds 11 hits and seven RBIs, while Elanna Lysiak has driven in eight runs.

Bianco is two shy (98) of 100 career stolen bases, which ranks the third highest amongst active players in NCAA Division I. The Cherry Hill, N.J., native became the program's all-time leader in swiped bags during the 2025 campaign.

Stetson enters the weekend at 8-1, its best start since 2017. The Hatters opened the season with back-to-back run-rule victories and later swept the Hatter Classic. Stetson is averaging 8.8 runs per game through nine contests.

Columbia arrives at 0-4 after opening the season at the Spiro Classic in Greensboro, N.C. The Lions dropped four contests but held opponents to four runs or fewer in their final two games of the weekend.

The weekend marks St. John's first matchup against Stetson and Columbia in nearly two decades. The Johnnies last faced the Hatters in an 11-1 loss on March 3, 2006, and last met the Lions in a 7-0 victory on Oct. 6, 2007.

Following the Stetson Invitational, the Red Storm will travel to Greenville, N.C. for the Battle at the Max, hosted by ECU. St. John's will face ECU, Rider and Campbell twice from Feb. 27-March 1.