NEWTON, MA – Saint Joseph's (20-6, 11-3 GNAC) extended its winning streak to 10 games with a pair of Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victories over Mount Ida College (8-20, 4-10 GNAC) on Thursday afternoon. Maddie Kluna '12 (Standish, ME) fanned 11 in the opener and Rae-Marie Copan '14 (Newton, MA) tossed a three-hitter with seven strikeouts in the nightcap.
The Monks have now reached the 20-win mark in four consecutive seasons and 10 times under the guidance of 14th-year Head Coach Jamie Smyth '92. Overall, the softball team has registered 20 triumphs 21 times in program history.
St. Joe's, which tied a school record with 23 straight wins last spring, has won at least 10 in a row for the 14th time in team history and fifth time under Coach Smyth's watch.
GAME ONE
After three full empty frames to start game one the visitors tallied two runs in the top of the fourth inning on three hits. Two consecutive singles started the inning followed by a fielder's choice by Monks senior Alyssa Dunn (Standish, ME/Bonny Eagle) plated the visitor's first score to lead 1-0. After a base-on-balls, visiting freshman Lindsay Moore (Barrington, NH/Dover) singled to left center field to drive in the final run of the inning for the 2-0 advantage.
Mount Ida answered in the bottom half of the frame with three runs on five hits that started with an Erica Belliveau (Tewksbury, MA/Tewksbury Memorial) round tripper that was peppered over the left field fence trailing 2-1. Three singles ensued coming from the bats of sophomore Denise Picard (Winooski, VT/Winooski) and freshmen Megan Hall (Danielson, CT/Killingly) and Tiffany True (Haverhill, MA/Essex Agricultural) chucking the bases full with one down. Junior Tracy Koukol (North Attleboro, MA/North Attleboro) followed scorching a base hit to left field plating two for Mount Ida for the 3-2 lead to end the inning.
The Monks added one in the top of the fifth inning that came from an opening error to start the frame. With one on the base paths and two down, SJC senior Natasha Howard (Farmington, ME/Mount Blue) poked a single to center field to knot the score at 3-3.
Mount Ida retook the advantage in the bottom of the inning with Belliveau and freshman Kirsten Guerrero (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Ludlowe) notching back-to-back singles to kick off the frame. A groundout to third base by junior Erin Dufficy (Shelton, CT/Shelton) tallied the run for the Mustangs capturing the 4-3 lead.
The top of the sixth was where the visitors took over scoring three runs to snatch the 6-4 advantage. An error by Mount Ida and a single by the visitors put two on with one down. Monk junior Maria Labbe (Lewiston, ME/Lewiston) stepped up next hammering a double to left field scoring one tying the score at 4-4. Another single loaded the bases for the visitors and followed with a sacrifice fly ball to center field scoring another to give St. Joe's a 5-4 advantage. One more single finished off the inning to give the visitors the 6-4 lead that would eventually be the game winner after no action in the bottom of the last inning for the hosts.
Freshman designated hitter Jill Howard (Rochester, NH) went 3-4 with an RBI and center fielder Emily Leverone '12 (Hampton, NH) was 2-4 with a run and an RBI for the Monks.
Mustang sophomore hurler Devan Meeker (Bantam, CT/Litchfield) went all seven innings surrendering nine hits adding three strikeouts and two walks.
GAME TWO
Game two was tight the entire way with the visitors starting the scoring in the top of the fourth following three quiet innings to start the contest. A lead-off double by Leverone got the ball rolling. After an out advancing Leverone to third, a Dunn single ensued driving in Leverone for the 1-0 lead to end the frame.
Mount Ida would answer in the bottom of the inning on the first batter with their only run of the game on a huge homerun by Guerrero over the center field fence tying the score at 1-1.
Although they had their chances to make a comeback, that was as close as the Mustangs would get while the visitors added two insurance runs. The first score was plated in the top of the fifth on a Howard single to go ahead 2-1 and the other on a round tripper in the top of the seventh by Monk freshman Connie Grovo (Limington, ME/Bonny Eagle) for the 3-1 game two victory.
SJC shortstop Lindsay Moore '14 (Barrington, NH) went 3-3 with a double in the closing contest.
Meeker went the distance in game two surrendering eight hits with two of the three runs earned and two fans.
Both programs will host conference-rivals in doubleheaders this Saturday as St. Joe's faces Suffolk University at Richard W. Bailey Field at 1:00 PM while Mount Ida takes on Johnson & Wales at 10:00 AM.
COURTESY OF MOUNT IDA COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION
