St. John's University Athletics
Friday, April 10
Providence, R.I. (Glay Field)
2 p.m.
St. John's University
at
Providence
Red Storm Heads to Providence for BIG EAST Series
4/9/2026 2:02:00 PM | Softball
St. John’s looks to defeat the conference-leading Friars
QUEENS, N.Y. — The St. John's softball team heads to the Northeast this weekend for a three-game series at the BIG EAST leaders, Providence. All three matchups will be broadcast on Friars.com, while live stats can be found on RedStormSports.com.
The Red Storm (26-13, 6-6 BIG EAST) hold a 61-45 all-time advantage over the Friars and swept the regular-season series in 2025 in Queens. St. John's last defeated Providence at Glay Field on March 22, 2024, in a nine-inning 3-2 victory.
The Johnnies enter the weekend following a 2-0 victory over Hofstra on April 7 at Red Storm Field. The impressive shutout win snapped a 17-game losing streak against the Pride and marked the Johnnies' first victory in the series since April 22, 2004.
Loreley Francia tossed six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts against the Pride to earn the win, while Makenna Meadows recorded two hits and an RBI. Natasha Limbani added an RBI double and Ana Serafinko went 2-for-3 at the plate before earning the save with a scoreless seventh inning.
Prior to the Hofstra victory, the Red Storm captured a 2-1 series win at DePaul from April 2-4. In game two of the series, St. John's shut out the Blue Demons, 8-0, as Francia allowed just one hit. That performance marked the fewest hits surrendered by a Red Storm pitcher since Francia's no-hitter against Rider on Feb. 28, 2025.
Francia also reached a career milestone earlier this season, recording the 500th strikeout of her collegiate career in the bottom of the fifth inning against Iona on March 25.
Serafinko continues to be one of the nation's top pitchers throughout the 2026 campaign. The southpaw ranks second nationally in strikeouts with 197, third in complete games with 14 and 14th in total victories with 13. The Chino Hills, Calif., native also leads the BIG EAST in multiple statistical categories including victories, strikeouts, strikeouts per seven innings, innings pitched, ERA and complete games.
Offensively, St. John's is hitting .309 as a team with 340 hits and 203 runs scored through 39 games. Jess Bianco leads the squad with a .410 batting average and 58 hits, while Elanna Lysiak paces the team with 28 RBIs. Bianco ranks second on the team with 25 RBIs, while London Slade has tallied 48 hits while batting .364.
Slade also sits among the toughest to strike out in all of NCAA Division I. The Bowie, Md., native has a 33.0 K average and has struck out just four times this season, making her the 21st most difficult to strike out among 150 qualifiers.
As a team, St. John's leads the BIG EAST in hits with 340, ERA with 3.06, shutouts with five, strikeouts per seven innings with 7.85, strikeout-to-walk ratio with 2.44 and WHIP with 1.44.
The Red Storm is also one of five teams nationally to record a triple play this season alongside Boise State, Grambling, Loyola Chicago and Yale.
Providence enters the weekend with a 16-14 overall record and a conference-leading 7-2 mark in BIG EAST play. The Friars are led offensively by junior Cameron Dunn, who recently recorded the 100th hit of her career while tying the program's single-season home run record with her 12th home run of the season against Boston University on April 8.
Providence enters the series coming off an 8-7 midweek loss to Boston University despite hitting three home runs in the contest.
Following the series, the Johnnies will return home for a midweek matchup against local opponent Manhattan on April 15 at 3 p.m. at Red Storm Field.
The Red Storm (26-13, 6-6 BIG EAST) hold a 61-45 all-time advantage over the Friars and swept the regular-season series in 2025 in Queens. St. John's last defeated Providence at Glay Field on March 22, 2024, in a nine-inning 3-2 victory.
The Johnnies enter the weekend following a 2-0 victory over Hofstra on April 7 at Red Storm Field. The impressive shutout win snapped a 17-game losing streak against the Pride and marked the Johnnies' first victory in the series since April 22, 2004.
Loreley Francia tossed six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts against the Pride to earn the win, while Makenna Meadows recorded two hits and an RBI. Natasha Limbani added an RBI double and Ana Serafinko went 2-for-3 at the plate before earning the save with a scoreless seventh inning.
Prior to the Hofstra victory, the Red Storm captured a 2-1 series win at DePaul from April 2-4. In game two of the series, St. John's shut out the Blue Demons, 8-0, as Francia allowed just one hit. That performance marked the fewest hits surrendered by a Red Storm pitcher since Francia's no-hitter against Rider on Feb. 28, 2025.
Francia also reached a career milestone earlier this season, recording the 500th strikeout of her collegiate career in the bottom of the fifth inning against Iona on March 25.
Serafinko continues to be one of the nation's top pitchers throughout the 2026 campaign. The southpaw ranks second nationally in strikeouts with 197, third in complete games with 14 and 14th in total victories with 13. The Chino Hills, Calif., native also leads the BIG EAST in multiple statistical categories including victories, strikeouts, strikeouts per seven innings, innings pitched, ERA and complete games.
Offensively, St. John's is hitting .309 as a team with 340 hits and 203 runs scored through 39 games. Jess Bianco leads the squad with a .410 batting average and 58 hits, while Elanna Lysiak paces the team with 28 RBIs. Bianco ranks second on the team with 25 RBIs, while London Slade has tallied 48 hits while batting .364.
Slade also sits among the toughest to strike out in all of NCAA Division I. The Bowie, Md., native has a 33.0 K average and has struck out just four times this season, making her the 21st most difficult to strike out among 150 qualifiers.
As a team, St. John's leads the BIG EAST in hits with 340, ERA with 3.06, shutouts with five, strikeouts per seven innings with 7.85, strikeout-to-walk ratio with 2.44 and WHIP with 1.44.
The Red Storm is also one of five teams nationally to record a triple play this season alongside Boise State, Grambling, Loyola Chicago and Yale.
Providence enters the weekend with a 16-14 overall record and a conference-leading 7-2 mark in BIG EAST play. The Friars are led offensively by junior Cameron Dunn, who recently recorded the 100th hit of her career while tying the program's single-season home run record with her 12th home run of the season against Boston University on April 8.
Providence enters the series coming off an 8-7 midweek loss to Boston University despite hitting three home runs in the contest.
Following the series, the Johnnies will return home for a midweek matchup against local opponent Manhattan on April 15 at 3 p.m. at Red Storm Field.
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
SS
/ Softball
3B/OF
/ Softball
P/UTIL
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballSt. John's Softball vs Hofstra Highlights 4.7.26
Tuesday, April 07
St. John's Softball highlights vs. Butler game 2 3.27.26.
Friday, March 27
St. John's Softball vs Army Highlights 3.14.26
Saturday, March 14
St. John's Softball Highlights at UConn 5.4
Sunday, May 04