Syracuse University
St. Mary's (Capital Classic)
Orangewomen Advance in Capital Classic
3/16/2002 5:41:56 PM | Softball
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Syracuse softball team advanced in the championship bracket of the Capital Classic with a 5-1 victory versus St. Mary's on Saturday, March 16. SU is now 10-8 on the season, while St. Mary's is 6-22.
The Orangewomen have won eight of their last 10 games. It is SU's best 10-game stretch in the three-year history of the program.
Junior Kristen Collins (Stow, Mass./Nashoba Regional) scored SU's first run in the third inning. Collins led off with her team-leading fifth double of the season and moved to third on an infield hit by junior Christina Holowich (Castro Valley, Calif./Moreau Catholic). Collins scored on an error.
Redshirt sophomore Rachel Park (Mt. Juliet, Tenn./Friendship Christian) drove in three SU runs. Park recorded a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and then hit her first career home run, a two-run shot, in the top of the seventh. It was Syracuse's eighth hom run of 2002, breaking the team's single-season record of seven home runs set during the 2000 season.
Holowich and freshman Tanya Rose (Milwaukie, Ore./Rex Putnam) each had two hits in the game.Sophomore Cortney Nickerson (Farmington, N.M./Farmington)recorded her second pitch hit of the season, setting a school record.
Freshman pitcher Taylor Petersen (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) has now won her first four collegiate starts. She is the first Syracuse pitcher to win four straight games since Tara DiMaggio in April of 2000. Petersen scattered four hits and struck out five in her third complete game of the season. She leads the team with a 0.77 ERA.
The Orangewomen move on in the bracket to face the winner of Wisconsin and San Jose State at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
