STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph’s improved to 9-5 overall and 4-0 in conference play with a pair of 8-2 victories over GNAC foe Mount Ida College (6-7, 1-5 GNAC) at Ward Park on Friday afternoon. Sophomore slugger Emily Leverone (Hampton, NH) was 5-7 with three runs, six RBI, three doubles, and a home run in the twinbill.
Game one starter Kiera Walsh ’11 (Benton, ME) scattered nine hits with one earned run allowed and five K’s in a complete-game effort and improves to 3-2 individually with the winning decision. Christy Wezowicz ’10 (Granville, MA) is also 3-2 after earning the win in the nightcap, as the senior hurler carried a perfect game into the fourth inning and finished the contest with five strikeouts and one earned run, one walk and four hits allowed.
For the visiting Mustangs, Devan Meeker ’13 (Bantam, CT) suffered the opening-game loss after allowing eight runs – seven earned – and 12 hits with three K’s in six innings and fellow freshman Denise Picard (Winooski, VT) took the loss with eight earned runs, 16 hits and four walks allowed in six frames.
The SJC bats have come to life after struggling to string hits together for much of the southern swing in Fort Myers during the second week of March. The Monks hit just .232 as a team in their first 10 games, but have enjoyed double-digit hit totals in each of their four games up north and have hit an even .500 (73-146) in the quartet of conference contests against Albertus Magnus and Mount Ida.
GAME ONE
The Mustangs struck first in the opener, as the visitors managed to plate a run off two hits in the top of the first inning to gain a short-lived lead. With one out, second baseman Tiffany Hamann ’13 (Newton, MA) singled, moved up two bases on a passed ball and a groundout, respectively, and scored on a singled up the middle by shortstop Erica Belliveau ’12 (Tewksbury, MA).
The Monks responded with three runs, all with two outs, off four hits in their turn in the first frame. Right fielder Danyelle Shufelt ’13 (Sutton, VT) notched a bunt single with one out, moved to second when Leverone singled and scored on an Alyssa Dunn ’11 (Standish, ME) base knock. Leverone scrambled home on a passed ball and SJC second sacker Jillian Kimball ’10 (Albany Township, ME) roped a double to left-center to send Dunn across the plate and put the Royal Blue ahead 3-1.
After a scoreless, and hitless, second inning, both teams added a run in the third to make it a 4-2 game heading into the fourth. The Mustangs cut their deficit to one run when Hamman singled and later scored on an infield miscue, but the Monks maintained the two-run cushion when shortstop Liddy van der Linden ’10 (Worcester, MA) cracked a solo home run, her fourth tater of the season, with two out in the bottom of the third.
The Royal Blue put the game out of reach in the fifth with four runs off five consecutive hits and a sacrifice fly. Left fielder Katelyn Call ’12 (Portland, ME/McAuley), center fielder Anna Willis ’10 (Gorham, ME) and pinch-hitter Maria Labbe ’12 (Lewiston, ME) all reached with singles to start the inning and Leverone drove home Call and Willis with a double to left field. van der Linden plated Shufelt with a base hit and scored when the next batter, Dunn, hit a sac fly to right field to close out the inning with the hosts on top, 8-2.
Leverone, van der Linden and Call all went 2-3 for the Monks, who stranded just three baserunners in the triumph.
For Mount Ida, Hamann and Belliveau were both 2-4 and center fielder Tracy Koukol ’12 (North Attleboro, MA) was 2-3.
GAME TWO
The Monks provided Wezowicz with more support than she would require early on in the nightcap, as the Royal Blue nine put up six runs off eight hits in the bottom of the first. Willis and Shufelt kicked off the frame with singles and were promptly sent home with a Leverone two-bagger. Dunn plated Leverone with a single and scored when the next SJC hitter, Kimball, doubled to deep center. A single by Labbe sent Kimball sprinting home and catcher Natasha Howard ’11 (Farmington, ME) singled and scored on a Willis base knock to cap the big inning with the Monks on top, 6-0.
Wezowicz was on cruise control for the next two innings and did not allow a runner to reach until Meeker singled to lead off the top of the fourth. The next batter in that frame, Hamann, hit a line drive up the middle that was caught by Wezowicz, who turned and fired to first to double off Meeker. Mount Ida Catcher Cortney Rebello ’13 (North Dartmouth, MA) popped up to second to end the inning, meaning Wezowicz had faced the minimum through four.
The opportunity to toss a shutout was negated when Belliveau greeted Wezowicz with an inning-opening home run to straightaway center in the fifth. Mustangs third baseman Danielle Mitchell ’13 (Whitman, MA) fell about three feet short of making the longball a back to back feat, as a liner off her bat struck the wall in left and the freshman was forced to settle for a two-bagger. Mitchell later scored on an infield error by the Monks to make it a 6-2 game.
Leverone, the Monks’ single-season record holder for homers (8, 2009), drove a ball over the left field fence, a two-run blast, in the bottom of the fifth to cap the game scoring.
Shufelt, Leverone and Dunn all went 3-4 and Willis was 2-4 in the winning effort for the Monks.
Saint Joseph’s will play at Emmanuel College on Saturday in a GNAC doubleheader set to begin at 12:00 PM. Mount Ida is set to travel to Providence on Sunday for a two-game set against conference rival Johnson & Wales University at 12:00 PM.
