The St. John’s softball team won its first game of the season at the Lancer Lead-Off Classic in Longwood, Va. on Feb. 18.
The Red Storm (1-6) lost the first two games to Seton Hall and host Longwood before beating UMBC to close out the day.
Because of inclement weather, the team was forced to play three games in one day for the first time since 2003, finishing 1-2 on the day.
“We had to manage our pitching staff more than we usually do [because of the schedule],” head coach Amy Kvilhaug said. “There were some aches and pains, so we had to adjust to that.”
St. John’s 7, UMBC 0
In the finale, sophomore pitcher Ashley Beza threw a two-hit shutout and the offense scored a season-high seven runs in the team’s 7-0 win.
Freshman shortstop Erin Burner hit a grand slam and redshirt senior catcher Kacee Cox also blasted a home run to help put St. John’s into the win column for the first time in 2012.
“Good feeling,” Kvilhaug said about the team getting its first win. “It was a long time coming. The team is happy about it. I wasn’t really concerned about anything that was going on because we lost a lot of close games, so it was not bad softball. It was a great pitching performance and we never backed down.”
Longwood 10, St. John’s 2
Buoyed by two three-run innings, Longwood cruised past St. John’s 10-2, invoking the mercy rule after five innings.
Sophomore first baseman Jackie Reed hit her second homer of the season while Kristi Cady added an RBI in the losing effort.
Longwood scored in every inning and chased starter Fran Carrullo out of the game after she allowed six runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. Her replacement, sophomore Myriah Rodgers, allowed four runs in two innings before the game ended when Longwood took an eight-run lead.
Seton Hall 7, St. John’s 6
St. John’s lost its fourth one-run game of the season in the first game of the weekend, falling to tri-state rival Seton Hall in nine innings, 7-6.
“It was good to get some good competition,” Kvilhaug said. “It was an exciting game and it came down to execution and they did well and fought back and got the win.”
The Johnnies took a 5-2 lead in the second inning, and led 6-4 in the seventh, but could not hold the lead. The Pirates came back with two runs in the seventh to send the game into extra innings. In the ninth, Seton Hall took a 7-6 lead on a double by senior Kristen Kaelin, which proved to be the difference. Starter Ashley Beza pitched nine innings and struck out a career high eight batters, while Reed contributed a team-high four RBI and Burner hit the first home run of her career.
