#25 SU and St. John's Split Doubleheader

Saturday, March 31

Queens, N.Y.

1:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

at St. Johns

Watson (00) hit a grand slam in the first inning against SJU in game one

Photo by: Jason Wise

3/31/2012 6:25:31 PM | Softball

Game One Box | Game Two Box | Season Statistics

QUEENS, N.Y. – The #25 Syracuse University softball team (20-9, 1-1) split a doubleheader on day one of its BIG EAST conference opening series with St. John's (13-20, 2-2) on Saturday afternoon at the Red Storm Softball Field.

The Orange belted five home runs in game one to help capture an 11-7 victory, while in game two SU was only able to manage four hits in a 6-1 defeat.

Game One: Syracuse 11, St. John's 7

The Orange (20-8, 1-0) hit five home runs en route to an 11-7 victory against St. John's (12-20, 1-2) in SU's conference opener at the Red Storm Softball Complex.

The Orange broke the game open in the top of the first inning by scoring six runs on four hits. Shirley Daniels reached with a leadoff double, which was followed by back-to-back walks from Stephanie Watts and Lisaira Daniels. Lacey Kohl then roped an RBI single, and Jasmine Watson then cleared the bases with a grand slam, giving SU a 5-0 lead. Carey-Leigh Thomas continued the onslaught with a solo home run in the next at bat.

All the SU runs in the first inning were scored with no outs, and the Orange forced SJU starting pitcher Ashley Beza out of the game after Watson's four-run shot. The grand slam was Syracuse's third of the season and Watson joins Julie Wambold and Kohl in that category.

The Red Storm, however, answered in the bottom half of the inning as Kacee Cox, SJU's all-time leader in long balls, hit a three-run home run and cut the Orange lead in half.

The Orange bats continued to stay hot in the top of the second as SU tacked on three more runs. Watson singled and reached second on an error in the outfield which allowed Kohl to score. That was followed by a two-run shot by Ashley Dimon. It was Dimon's first hit of the season and SU's third round-tripper of the game.

SJU fought back in the bottom of the second with two runs as Chrissy Montez hit an RBI double and Jenna Caira issued a bases loaded walk, but SU took a 9-5 lead into the third inning.

The score would remain the same until the top of the fifth when Kelly Saco smacked her first home run of the season over the left center field fence. Julie Wambold added Syracuse's fifth homer of the game in the seventh inning by absolutely crushing an offering from SJU's Aleshia Link.

The Red Storm would hit a two-run homer in the bottom half of the seventh, but Stacy Kuwik shut down the rally by not allowing another base runner in the frame.

In relief, Kuwik pitched five innings, struck out seven batters and allowed two run in the win. She is now 4-3 on the season.

Game Two: St. John's 6, Syracuse 1

After not recording an out and allowing five runs in the first game, St. John's pitcher Ashley Beza went the distance and allowed just four hits to propel St. John's (13-20, 2-2) past Syracuse (20-9, 1-1) in game two at the Red Storm Softball field.

St. John's put up three runs in the bottom of the first, two in the second and one in the third. SU's only run came in the fifth inning when Kelly Saco and Morgan Nandin had back-to-back doubles to score Saco.

Beza was dominant in game two as she faced 23 Orange batters and struck out seven of them in six innings of work.

SU and St. John's will play the rubber match of the three game series tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 p.m. Live stats and a live blog will be available for the contest.