FORT MYERS, FL – The Saint Joseph's College softball team opened the 2014 campaign with a split in the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic on Monday. The Monks defeated Ohio-Wesleyan, 3-1 in eight innings, in the first game of the season and suffered an 8-0 mercy-rule defeat at the hands of Bridgewater State University in the nightcap.
The Monks, featuring four key players who recently returned to the team following an NCAA Tournament berth as members of the SJC women's basketball program, struggled with the bat, as evidenced by the total of just four hits in the two contests. All four of the hits came in the opener, as the Monks were no-hit in the second contest, as Bridgewater senior righty Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.) held the Royal Blue hitless with a pair of walks and four strikeouts over five frames in the 8-0 triumph.
Prior to this morning, Saint Joseph's had not fallen on the wrong side of a no-hitter since Katie Mainville tossed seven hitless frames with 14 K's in a 2-0 win for University of Southern Maine on April 6th, 2006.
The game stood at a 1-1 deadlock through seven frames in the opener versus Ohio-Wesleyan and the Monks struck for a pair in the in the top of the eighth to clinch the victory. With the international tie-breaker rule, St. Joe's placed freshman Carla Tripp (Lovell, Maine) on second and the following batter, senior second baseman Connie Grovo (Limington, Maine), reached on an infield error, sending Tripp scampering to third. Up next was sophomore first baseman Melissa Mayhew (Hiram, Maine), who delivered the clutch hit, a single to left-center, to send both runners home, making it a 3-1 game.
Senior hurler Rae-Marie Copan (Newton, Mass.) worked through a jam in the bottom of the frame. Ohio-Wesleyan managed to punch a run across and had the bases loaded with two out, but Copan induced a harmless pop-up to close out the victory.
In the nightcap, Bridgewater State scored more runs than need with three in the third inning and proceeded to tack on three in the fourth and a pair in the fifth to enforce the mercy rule.
Junior pitcher Laura Jordan (Orrington, Maine) took the loss after allowing eight runs (seven earned) off 11 hits with three K's in five innings.
Saint Joseph's resumes play tomorrow morning with games versus Salem State University (9am) and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (11am).
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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 430-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.
