WEST HARTFORD, CT - #4 Saint Joseph's College (31-9, 18-6 GNAC) blanked #8 Suffolk University (14-24, 11-13 GNAC), 3-0, in a GNAC Softball Tournament contest at University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) on Friday afternoon.
The Monks, winners of the last two GNAC Championship crowns, scored single runs in the first, third and fourth innings and senior pitcher Kayla Vannah (Waldoboro, Maine) was lights-out, scattering just three hits while fanning seven in the complete-game shutout effort.
With the victory, Saint Joseph's will face #3 University of Saint Joseph (Conn.), which defeated #7 Rivier University by 6-2 score in other tourney play this afternoon, in a winners' bracket contest at 12:00 PM on Saturday. Suffolk will face Rivier in a losers' bracket game at 10:00 AM tomorrow.
In the bottom of the first, senior center fielder Danyelle Shufelt (Sutton, Vt.) led off with a single and scored three batters later when senior catcher Heather Tripp (Lovell, Maine) recorded an RBI base knock to center field.
Junior shortstop Lindsay Moore (Barrington, N.H.) doubled the Saint Joseph's advantage with a solo home run to left field in the third inning and sophomore Kim Jordan (Bangor, Maine) tripled and immediately scored on a Victoria Ramos (North Scituate, R.I.) single in the fourth to cap the game-scoring with the Monks owning a 3-0 lead.
Vannah put forth perhaps the finest pitching effort of her four-year career and it could not have come at a better time for the Monks. The senior retired the last 11 batters she faced and has not allowed an earned run in her last 21.1 innings in the circle, a stretch that includes 13.1 frames of scoreless GNAC Tournament work.
Sophomore starting pitcher Sarah Chasse (Salem, Mass.), who allowed three runs off 10 hits and a walk while striking out a pair in 4.1 innings, took the loss for the Rams and falls to 8-9 on the season with the decision. Sophomore Alicia Gonnella (Bridgewater, N.J.) allowed one hit and struck out two in 1.2 innings of relief for Suffolk.
GNAC Tournament play runs through Sunday at University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) and the winner of the tourney earns an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament, which begins on May 10th (site TBD).
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.
