EAST PROVIDENCE, RI – Saint Joseph's College (15-5, 7-3 GNAC) and Johnson & Wales University (9-13, 4-6 GNAC) split a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) softball doubleheader on Friday afternoon. The Wildcats bested the Monks by a 2-1 margin in nine innings in the opener and the Royal Blue responded with a 2-0 triumph in the nightcap.

The opener saw both teams battle through seven scoreless innings.  In the eighth inning, both squads capitalized on the international tie breaker and sent the game into the ninth frame.  After holding Saint Joseph's scoreless in the top of the ninth, JWU struck in the bottom of the inning as freshman Kristen Solari (Old Bridge, N.J.) was placed on second to start the frame.  Solari later came around to score on a walk off RBI single by junior Rachael Marino (Northbridge, Mass.) to propel the Wildcats to the 2-1 victory. 

For the Monks, senior Danyelle Shufelt (Sutton, Vt.) tallied a pair of hits and an RBI in the loss while senior Kayla Vannah (Waldoboro, Maine) suffered the setback in the pitching circle, allowing two unearned runs on three hits with seven strikeouts.

For the Wildcats, freshman Cynthia Proby (Bremerton, Wash.) was 2-for-4 with an RBI while junior Taylor Cwalinski (Jackson, N.J.) went eight and a third innings, allowing one unearned run on five hits with 10 strikeouts. 

In the nightcap Saint Joseph's jumped out to the early lead when Shufelt led off the top of the first with a single and scored on an RBI base hit by junior Lindsay Moore (Barrington, N.H.).  Moore later scored on a JWU miscue to put the Monks up 2-0.  That would be all the scoring for the contest as St. Joe's took the 2-0 victory. 

Moore went 1-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI while junior Rae-Marie Copan (Newton, Mass.) notched the complete-game victory, allowing just three hits with five strikeouts in seven scoreless frames. 

Junior Tayla Gardner (Orangeburg, N.J.) took the loss for the Wildcats, giving up two unearned runs on three hits with nine strikeouts.

Both teams host GNAC doubleheaders on Saturday afternoon, as the Monks take on Emmanuel College starting at 1:00 PM and the Wildcats face Lasell College beginning at 12:00 PM.

COURTESY OF JWU SPORTS INFORMATION

Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.