After dropping the first game of the 2012 Winthrop/Adidas Invitational, the St. John’s softball team ripped off four straight wins in South Carolina to become co-champions of the tournament.
Seniors Julia Sanchez, Kristi Cady, sophomore pitcher Ashley Beza and Ellen Czuba all earned All-Tournament honors. Beza pitched three complete game wins while allowing just three runs. Sanchez led the Johnnies with four RBI while hitting .615 during the weekend.
“We are really looking to work out the kinks and improve weekend to weekend,” head coach Amy Kvilhaug said. “While this was a great showing, consistency is a huge factor to keep things going well.”
St. John’s 3, Bowling Green 2
St. John’s took down Bowling Green on March 11 to become the co-champions of the invitational.
After falling behind 1-0 after the first inning, back-to-back doubles from senior catcher Kacee Cox and junior shortstop Chrissy Montez in the second inning gave the team a 3-1 lead. Bowling Green would add another run in the fourth with a home run off Beza, but that was as close as the Falcons would come. Beza got the win after pitching a complete game and striking out eight.
St. John’s 4, Gardner-Webb 1
Montez drove in a run and scored another to put the Red Storm up 2-0 in the second inning, which proved to be enough as St. John’s won the second game of its March 10 doubleheader 4-1 over Gardner-Webb.
A home run by Cady in the fifth gave St. John’s a 3-0 lead. Julia Sanchez drove in sophomore Jackie Reed to add an insurance run.
The Runnin’ Bulldogs threatened, scoring once and loading the bases in the bottom of the sixth. They were unable to complete the rally however, and St. John’s would go on to win its third straight game, matching the total number of wins they had coming into the tournament.
St. John’s 1, Campbell 0
Beza pitched a complete game shutout with a career-high nine strikeouts in a 1-0 win over Campbell in the first leg of the March 10 doubleheader.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when Kristi Cady dashed home on a wild pitch. That would be all the Johnnies needed, as Beza struck out the side in the seventh to close out the Fighting Camels.
St. John’s 6, UNC-Wilmington 4
After opening the tournament with a loss to Winthrop, St. John’s rebounded to defeat UNC-Wilmington 6-4 in 10 innings.
The Red Storm led 4-3 going into the bottom of the sixth, but UNC Wilmington tied it up on a home run by right fielder Ashley Singleton.
The teams remained level until the 10th inning, when Montez scored after UNC-Wilmington catcher Kimmie Stewart threw the ball away on a sacrifice bunt attempt by freshman MacKenna Neuroth. The Johnnies added an insurance run later in the inning.
Winthrop 6, St. John’s 5
St. John’s fell to Winthrop in the tournament opener, 6-5, in a game that featured six home runs between the two teams.
After scoring once in both of the first two innings, back-to-back home runs off the bats of designated hitter Dominique Marcelino and Cox gave the Johnnies a 4-2 lead.
The Eagles rallied back with three long balls of their own over the next four innings to take a 6-4 lead.
A homer by freshman shortstop Erin Burner brought the Johnnies back to within one, but they couldn’t find the tying run.
St. John’s has nine days off before returning to New York to play at Fordham on March 20.
