Saturday, April 9
Jamaica, N.Y.
12 p.m.
Syracuse University
5
at
1
at St. John's
Jaime Grillo drove in two runs in the Orange's game-two victory at St. John's.
Late Inning Rally Pushes Orange to Doubleheader Sweep
4/9/2005 5:13:58 PM | Softball
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
JAMAICA, N.Y. – A seven-run rally in the sixth inning propelled the Syracuse softball team to a 9-2 win in game two of a doubleheader at St. John’s on Saturday, April 9. The Orange swept the BIG EAST twin bill, winning game one, 5-1, to improve to 15-11 overall and 3-1 in the league. The Red Storm is now 14-20 overall and 1-3 in conference action.
Syracuse’s Erin Downey (8-4) was the winning pitcher in both games. She started game one, allowing only one run on seven hits. She struck out seven and walked two for her third victory in as many starts. Downey came on in relief in game two with the score tied 2-1 and pitched two and two-thirds innings, allowing one hit and striking out five. Downey is now 3-0 in league play and is 4-0 with a save in her last five appearances.
Brittany Crouch (5-9) was the loser for the Red Storm, giving up five runs, only one of them earned, on five hits. Lisa Geer (3-5) took the loss for St. John’s in game two.
Shawna Norris paced the Orange offense in the opener with three hits and three runs batted in. Cassie Morales contributed a pair of doubles and scored twice, while Alexis Switenko added a single and scored twice. Courtney Mosch drove in a run with a first-inning sacrifice fly. Erin Gray added a seventh-inning single. SU batters drew seven walks in the game. Mosch started the second game in the circle, but received a no decision. She gave up two runs, one of which was earned, on two hits. She walked three.
Jaime Grillo had two hits and two RBI in game two, including the game-winning hit. Chanel Roehner drove in two runs on her third home run of the season. Morales also homered in SU’s seven-run inning. Gray added a run batted in, driving in SU’s first run with a sac fly. Tiffany Robinson had two hits and drove in two. Tanya Rose contributed an RBI double in the Orange’s seven-run sixth inning. Norris added her fourth hit of the doubleheader with a sixth-inning single in game two, and Mosch added two singles and scored a run.
Syracuse’s nine runs in game two was the most for the Orange in a BIG EAST game since defeating Providence, 10-6, on April 6, 2003. The 14 combined runs were the most in a conference doubleheader on the road since SU tallied 20 versus the Friars.
Syracuse took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning of game one. Roehner started the rally by reaching on a one-out error and moved to third on a double by Morales. Switenko drew a walk to load the bases and Mosch followed with a sacrifice fly to give SU a 1-0 lead. Norris then delivered a double to left that got lost in the sun, allowing two runs to cross the plate. Norris was thrown out trying to advance to third on the play to end the inning.
The Orange kept St. John’s off the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning despite allowing the first two batters to reach base. Downey struck out two straight, and Roehner threw out the Red Storm runner trying to score from second on a single up the middle to end the threat. Downey pitched out of trouble in the third, striking out two and inducing an infield pop up after allowing a leadoff triple. Both teams squandered scoring chances, leaving a combined 16 runners on base.
Syracuse extended its lead to 5-0 in the top of the fifth. Morales started the inning with a double and moved to third on a single by Switenko. Norris drove in a run with a one-out single through the left side. The Orange scored the second run of the inning on a Red Storm error.
St. John’s broke through in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jo Sherlock led off with a double and Loren Anguiano drove her in with a two-out double to right-center field.
SU’s five runs in the first game marked the first time this season the Orange scored in the first game of a doubleheader. It was also Syracuse’s first victory in the opening game of a twin bill this season.
Syracuse took a 2-0 lead in the second inning of game two. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with no outs, and Gray drove home the first run with a sacrifice fly to left. Grillo chased home the second run with a line-drive single to center.
St. John’s took advantage of two Syracuse errors to put one run up in the bottom of the third. Jessica Marical led off with a double and went to third on a ground out. Anguiano drove in the first run with a ground ball and moved to second when the throw to the plate was wild. The next batter hit a ground ball back to Mosch, but Gray wasn’t able to handle the put-out attempt at third, putting runners on second and third with only one out. Mosch came back to get two straight ground balls and prevent further damage.
The Red Storm tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth. Anguiano and Tami Hill drew back-to-back one-out walks. Downey came on in relief to replace Mosch, and a throwing error by Switenko loaded the bases. After a strikeout for out number two, Jillian Sandoval singled up the middle to knot the game at 2-2. Downey avoided any further runs with another strikeout.
Syracuse opened things up in the top of the sixth with seven runs to regain the lead. Back-to-back singles by Mosch and Norris put runners on first and second with no outs. The Red Storm got the lead runner on a sacrifice attempt, but Grillo came through with an RBI double over the right fielder’s head. Robinson followed with a two-run single to give the Orange a 5-2 lead. Rose doubled to left-center field to score Robinson all the way from first and give the Orange a four-run advantage. Roehner and Morales accounted for the next three runs with back-to-back home runs. Roehner hit a two-run shot to center and Morales followed with a solo homer in almost the exact same spot.
The two wins marked SU’s first-ever sweep of St. John’s. It was the Orange’s first road sweep in conference action since the Providence twin bill in 2003 and marked only the fourth conference road sweep in school history.
The Orange will try to continue its momentum with a doubleheader at league-leading Seton Hall on Sunday, April 10.
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