FORT MYERS, FL – Due to a washout on Friday, the Saint Joseph’s College Softball team played four games in 7 ½ hours on the Monks’ final day in sunny Florida and capped their trip with an even 5-5 record in 10 contests.
St. Joe’s dropped the first three games of the day, losing by a 3-1 score to both SUNY-Brockport and UW-Platteville and suffering an 8-0 setback to Wisconsin-Superior. The Monks were able to close out the southern swing with a .500 record after defeating NYU Polytechnic, 4-3, in the team’s final contest before heading back to the Shores of Sebago.
After opening the trip with a 12-run, 13-hit outburst against Ohio-Wesleyan on March 7th, the Monks’ lineup failed to approach the double-digit hit mark for the remainder of the spring trip docket and scored just 16 runs in the final nine games. The SJC pitchers allowed more than three runs in just two of the 10 games, but the Royal Blue batters produced two runs or less in six consecutive games, with five of those contests being losses.
Overall, pitching and defense proved to be the Monks’ calling card on the 2010 spring trip. After 10 games, the team owns a 2.19 ERA with 54 strikeouts and just five walks in 68 innings of play. The stout SJC defense has made just three mistakes in 292 chances and has posted an otherworldly .990 fielding percentage thus far.
Prior to today, the Monks had never played four games in a single day. St. Joe’s has played three games in a day 11 different times, with the last occurrence being April 29th, 2006 when the Royal Blue captured the NCAA DIII Independents Northeast Championship. Saint Joseph’s has lost three games in a single day just once before, as the Monks fell on the wrong side of the scoreboard against Ursinus, Eastern Nazarene and Cedarville on March 11th, 2005 during the team’s spring trip.
GAME ONE – SUNY-Brockport
SJC starter Kiera Walsh ’11 (Benton, ME) was perfect through two innings and first baseman Alyssa Dunn ’11 (Standish, ME) led off the top of the second with a solo home run, her first long ball of the season, to provide the Monks with their only offense against the Golden Eagles.
Walsh’s perfect game bid came to a close when Emily Wagner ’13 (Waterford, NY) led off the bottom of the third with a single and her shutout effort ceased in the fourth when SUNY-Brockport scored twice off three hits. Liz Hochman ’12 (Pittsford, NY) and Melissa Boyle ’11 (Staten Island, NY) drove home the Golden Eagle runs during the frame.
Caitlyn Rana ’13 (Ballston Lake, NY) knocked home an insurance run in the fifth with a single to cap the game scoring.
For St. Joe’s, Heather Tripp ’13 (Lovell, ME) doubled and Danyelle Shufelt ’13 (Sutton, VT), Anna Willis ’10 (Gorham, ME) and Emily Leverone ’12 (Hampton, NH) all swiped bags in the losing effort. Walsh tossed six innings of six-hit ball with three earned runs allowed and four strikeouts.
For SUNY-Brockport, Rana and Wagner both notched two-hit efforts and Stephanie Geer ’11 (Binghamton, NY) earned the win after hurling seven innings of six-hit ball with seven K’s and two walks allowed.
GAME TWO – UW-Platteville
Monks' starting pitcher Christy Wezowicz ’10 (Granville, MA) pitched extremely well for the Monks in the second game of the day against UW-Platteville and allowed just one hit, which was nullified when SJC catcher Natasha Howard ’11 (Farmington, ME) nailed the runner trying to steal second base, through four innings.
The Pioneers scored single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings while the Monks’ lone run came in the seventh frame. Mandy Cerqua ’10 (Verona, WI) notched an RBI single in the fifth, Meagan Bye ’13 (Eden Prairie, MN) plated a run with a double in the sixth and Brittany Caley ’13 (Bloomington, WI) recorded an RBI base knock in the seventh to account for the Pioneer offense.
In the bottom of the seventh, Howard singled to send Katelyn Call ’12 (Portland, ME/McAuley) home and the Monks squandered an opportunity to tie the game, as the Royal Blue was unable to take advantage of ‘a runners on first and second with nobody out’ situation.
For St. Joe’s, Wezowicz tossed a complete game with five K’s and scattered eight hits with three earned runs allowed.
The only run Pioneers starter Melissa Anderson ’13 (Schaumburg, IL) allowed was unearned, as the freshman hurler fanned three and scattered five hits in the complete-game performance.
GAME THREE – Wisconsin Superior
Wisconsin-Superior overpowered Saint Joseph’s, as the Yellowjackets belted three home runs and rapped 13 hits en route to an 8-0 victory over the Monks.
The game stood at a scoreless stalemate until Wisconsin-Superior plated four runs off four hits with two outs in the top of the fourth inning. SJC starter Madylan Kluna ’12 (Standish, ME) allowed two homers in the frame, as Alexis Podpeskar '13 (Virginia, MN) hit a solo shot and Chelsey Jarzin '12 (Superior, WI) smacked a two-run tater to provide the Yellowjackets with more offense than they would require in the triumph. Kalli Kucharyski '11 (Superior, WI) hit a solo home run and Jen Parchem '10 (Baraboo, WI) notched an RBI single in a two-run seventh frame for Wisconsin-Superior to close out the game scoring.
Maria Labbe ’12 (Lewiston, ME) was 2-3 in the loss and Kluna gave up 13 hits and seven earned runs with six K’s in seven innings.
Four Wisconsin-Superior players registered multiple-hit performances, as Podpeskar, Parchem and Jarzin all had two hits apiece and Lindsay Garay '13 (Lake Nebagamon, WI) was 3-3 in the Yellowjacket victory. Kucharyski notched the victory in the circle and allowed five hits with six K’s in 6.1 innings of work.
GAME FOUR – NYU Polytechnic
Despite allowing 15 hits and recording just seven as a team, Saint Joseph’s was able to edge out NYU-Polytechnic, 4-3, in the Monks’ final game of an exhausting day for the Royal Blue. Liddy van der Linden ’10 (Worcester, MA) hit her second tater of the trip, a two-run blast in the top of the first, and Labbe scored the eventual game-winning run on an error by Blue Jays catcher Annamarie Smith ’13 (Henderson, NV) in the fifth frame.
Leverone added an RBI on a sacrifice fly, scoring Willis, in the third inning.
With the pitching staff depleted after having played 21 innings in the previous six hours, the Monks were forced to use three pitchers in this one. Kayla Vannah ’13 (Waldoboro, ME) was effective in her first collegiate start, with three earned runs allowed through four innings. Wezowicz took over in the fifth and fanned four, with three hits allowed, over two innings of work to earn the victory. Kluna entered the game in the seventh to get the final three outs and notched her first save of the year and second of her career.
Willis was the only SJC player to have more than one hit, as the senior center fielder was 2-3 with a run and a double in the triumph.
Miranda Merilli ’13 (Altoona, PA) took the loss for the Blue Jays after allowing three earned runs and seven hits with a pair of K’s in six innings. Six NYU-Poly players recorded multiple-hit efforts, as Ryan Graybill ’10 (Missouri City, TX), Natasha Taylor ’10 (Portland, ME/Bonny Eagle), Smith, Corrine Fitzgibbons ‘’13 (Brooklyn, NY), Marisa Mauerhan ’12 (Glendale, CA) and Katie Jo Sunday ’12 (West Lawn, PA) all contributed with at least two hits in the losing effort.
Saint Joseph’s will play at GNAC counterpart Albertus Magnus College on Sunday, March 21st in a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM.
