April 30, 2007
Box Score
Game One Box
Loretto, PA - The Wagner College softball team clinched a berth in the Northeast Conference Tournament for fourth consecutive season with a 9-1 (5), 6-4 doubleheader sweep of host Saint Francis (PA) earlier today. The Seahawks winners of 14 of their last 15 games improved their league record to 12-4 and overall mark to 26-16 this season.
The Seahawks ran away with game one in five innings as the offense enforced the 8-run mercy rule for the eighth time this season. Grad student Joy Gallagher (Hazleton, PA / Hazleton) got things going in the second inning with her fifth home run of the season, a solo shot to left. Saint Francis (17-31; 3-11) tied the game in the bottom of the third on a Kara Stroup sacrifice fly to left that scored an unearned run.
Wagner sent 11 batters to the plate in a sixth run fourth inning including sophomore Jaclyn Vanore (Palisades Park, NJ / Paramus Catholic), who knock in three runs with a bases loaded double to right center. Freshman Kate Eshelman (Reno, NV / McQueen), who extended her hitting streak to 13 games with three hits on the day, brought in Vanore with a single to center that put the Seahawks ahead 7-1. Earlier in the inning, junior Victoria Batistelli (Huntington Beach, CA / Huntington Beach) belted her team leading eighth home run of the year and 25th of her career, to right center to score sophomore Andrea Lazzari (Reno, NV /Wooster) who singled.
In the fifth the Seahawks scored two more unearned runs to put the game out of reach. Junior Ami Iwicki (Flemington, NJ / Hunterdon Central) (error) and Gallagher (single) both came into score when Vanore reached on an error.
With the offense clicking once again, senior Morgan Miller's (Las Vegas, NV / Silverado) took care of business on the mound allowing just the one unearned run on two hits as she improved to 11-7 on the year. Miller also becomes just the second Seahawk pitcher to record over 300 strikeouts and has now amassed 305 Ks for her career.
The Red Flash threatened in the last of the fifth, but the Seahawks threw one runner out at the plate and doubled another off on a flyout to center to close out the game.
The offense kept the momentum going in game two scoring three in the top of the first. Junior Katie Stevens (Reno, NV / Wooster) recorded the first RBI with a ground out to second, scoring Vanore who was hit by a pitch leading off the game. Lazzari followed with a two run homer to left, her fourth of the year, which extended her hitting streak to a team high 14 games this season.
A bases loaded walk to Stevens and a bases loaded hit-by-pitch to Batistelli scored two more runs for Wagner in the second as the team went ahead 5-0. For Batistelli it was the 35th time she was hit this season, adding to her NCAA leading total. It also marked the 54th time she has been hit in her career, matching the NCAA Record Book's all-time mark of Michelle Reeve (Centenary, (La.)) (1995-98).
A two run home run by Nicole Bender in the bottom of the second cut the Seahawks lead back to 5-2 after two complete.
In the third, Vanore produced her fourth RBI of the game with a single to center that scored Gallagher who reached on a leadoff single. The Red Flash again matched the Seahawks with a run in the bottom of the frame, as Kelly Slingwine had an RBI groundout, and junior Christine MacDonald had an RBI single in the fourth inning to pull the Red Flash within 6-4.
Senior Christina Hopkins (Edison, NJ / Edison) pitched 3.2 scoreless innings in relief and allowed just one hit for the Seahawks to pick up win and move to 3-2 on the year. Hopkins came on for Eshelman with one out in the fourth and after the first batter singled, she retired the final 10 in order to seal the win.
Gallagher had four hits on the day, while Vanore, Eshelman and Stevens (Wagner's 1-2-3 hitters) had three hits each.
Wagner hosts Columbia in a non-league doubleheader at the Lower Athletic Field tomorrow. The NEC Tournament will be held May 12-13 at LIU which has wrapped up the #1 seed.
Game 1 (5) R H E
Wagner 9 9 3
Saint Francis (PA) 1 2 3
Game 2 R H E
Wagner 6 11 1
Saint Francis (PA) 4 6 1
