Jaspers Swept By St. John?s In Doubleheader

QUEENS, N.Y. – On Thursday afternoon, the Manhattan College softball team made the short trip to Red Storm Field for a doubleheader with St. John's.  After taking the opener by a 4-3 count, the Red Storm (13-13) notched a 6-2 victory over the Jaspers (3-12) in game two of the twinbill.

In game one, St. John's took a 3-0 lead on Kaitlin Fitzgerald's three-run homer in the bottom of the third.  The Red Storm increased their advantage to 4-0 when Fitzgerald lifted a sacrifice fly after Jackie Reed's leadoff triple in the fifth.

Manhattan responded with a three-spot in the top of the sixth.  Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, N.Y.) led off the inning with an infield single and scored on Elena Bowman's (San Mateo, Calif.) fifth home run of the year, a two-run shot to center field.  Amanda Paxson (Cedar Grove, N.J.) was up next, and she crushed a homer to left that made it 4-3.

Tori Free came in to pitch for the Red Storm following the second home run, and she struck out two of the first three hitters she faced to get out of the inning.  Free then struck out the first two Jaspers to come up in the top of the seventh before walking Reinhardt, putting the tying run on base for the top of the order.  However, Kate Bowen (Newtown, Conn.) flied to left, giving St. John's the 4-3 victory and Manhattan its third consecutive one-run loss.

Bowman finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs in game one, while Reinhardt was 1-for-2 with a run scored and Paxson went 1-for-3 with a home run.  Bowen (2-3) took the loss in the circle after yielding four runs on 10 hits, striking out two and walking one in six innings.

The top three hitters in the St. John's order each had a pair of hits, as the Red Storm collected 10 hits as a team.  Reed went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Fitzgerald knocked in all four St. John's runs.  Ashley Beza (5-3) started and got the win.  She surrendered three runs and six hits while also issuing two walks in 5.1 innings.  Free earned her first save of the season after striking out four and walking two in 1.2 scoreless, hitless innings.

St. John's got on the board early again in game two, as Erin Burner belted a solo home run in the bottom of the first.  She added an RBI single in the fourth, then Yvonne Rericha made it 3-0 with an RBI double in the fourth.

Bowen began the Jaspers' comeback attempt with a one-out single in the top of the sixth.  After Bowman drew a walk, the runners moved up on Paxson's groundout.  Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, Conn.) followed with a single down the left field line that knocked in both runs, cutting the Red Storm's lead to 3-2. 

However, the Red Storm put up a three-spot in the bottom half of the inning, increasing the margin to 6-2.  The big blow in the rally was Brittany Garcia's two-run single.  Manhattan threatened in the top of the seventh, putting runners on second and third with one out, but St. John's pitcher Francesca Carrullo got a strikeout and a ground out to end the threat and wrap up the 6-2 Red Storm victory.

Vazquez had two of Manhattan's four hits in game two, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs.  Bowen went 1-for-4 with a run scored, while Reinhardt knocked the Jaspers' only other hit in the contest, a single in the seventh.  Amy Bright (Manlius, N.Y.) (0-7) surrendered four runs on 13 hits while striking out two in 5.1 innings to take the loss.  Danielle Gabriel (Island Heights, N.J.) tossed the final 0.2 innings, giving up two runs on three hits, striking out one and walking one.

The Red Storm belted out 16 hits in game two, with everybody who came to the plate collecting at least one hit.  Burner finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs, while Fitzgerald was 3-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.  Reed and Rericha each added a pair of hits, and Garcia had two RBIs.  Carrullo (2-1) went the distance in the circle, allowing two runs on four hits with four strikeouts and three walks.