Softball goes 3-0 in series against Rhode Island
It’s not very often that a team scores 10 runs in one inning, but the Saint Joseph’s University softball team proved it could be done on April 9 in the last game of their three game series against the Rhode Island University Rams. The Hawks swept the Rams, winning 4-3, 4-1 and 11-0.
The Hawks started off strong in game one, going up 3-0 in the third inning off of an RBI single from sophomore Raelynn Genovese that scored sophomore Taryn Grober and a single from freshman Sarah Ostaszewski, ultimately scoring both freshman Molly Kapala and Genovese.
Throughout the remainder of the game, the Rams began to chip away at the Hawks’ lead, making the score 3-2 in the top of the sixth. Freshman Caela Abadie answered with an RBI double to increase the lead to 4-2.
Rhode Island would score another to threaten St. Joe’s in cutting their lead to one, but it wouldn’t be enough, because sophomore pitcher Ashley Ventura and the rest of the Hawks’ defense made sure they wouldn’t score again, ending the game with a 4-3 win.
Game two produced an even better result for the Hawks, as junior pitcher Madison Clarke kept the Rams to one run the entire game.
Rhode Island scored and took the lead early, but the Hawks answered back when sophomore Amanda Kulp was walked with the bases loaded, scoring sophomore Stacey Mayer to tie the game at 1-1. Senior Madeline Brunck provided a power hit that scored Grober and Kapala to go up 3-1.
The Hawks would score once more off of a solo home run from senior Kaylyn Zierke to end the game with a final score of 4-1, finishing the day 2-0 against the Rams.
Looking to sweep the series against a fellow Atlantic 10 team, the Hawks set out to win their third game.
“Coming out yesterday and getting those two wins, we had a lot of confidence going into this game,” Abadie said. “Beating them like we did, this is going to carry on into the rest of the season.”
St. Joe’s was not on the field long, as they took down Rhode Island in only five innings.
Ventura didn’t give up any runs as the Hawks cruised to an 11-0 win.
“I think we found momentum within each other,” Ventura said of the Hawks’ successful day. “One person just set the tone, and we were all on the same page.”
The Hawks went up 1-0 in the bottom of the second off of a Grober double that scored Zierke.
The third inning was the longest of the game as the Hawks poured in 10 runs off of eight hits. Kulp scored the first run of the inning off of a catcher’s error, followed closely behind by a run from freshman Jancarla Herrera off of a sacrifice fly ball from Mayer to go up 3-0.
Brunck singled to score Abadie and Grober singled to score Ostaszewski to go up 5-0. Two more runs scored in similar fashion would push the Hawks to 7-0.
As Abadie stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded, she knew she could do something special.
“I was just trying to focus on what I could do to help this team and we were stringing a lot of hits together,” Abadie said. “Everyone was doing their part today.”
She certainly played her part, hitting a grand slam to go up 11-0.
Not much work was left to be done, but freshman pitcher Abigail Stroud sealed the win for the Hawks in the fifth inning, marking a three game sweep of Rhode Island.
This weekend marks a vast improvement in St. Joe’s play.
“We gave it our all every single game, made adjustments that we had to make and got the outcome that we wanted,” Ventura said. “We did everything that we could to make this happen.”
These wins put St. Joe’s overall record at 12-20 and their conference record at 6-3, bumping them up to third place in the A-10 standings.
“The sweep puts us in a better position,” Ventura said. “Three wins is always good in conference play, and hopefully this momentum carries into next week’s conference play.”
The Hawks return to action within the A-10 on April 14 in a series against St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y. at 3 p.m.
