The St. John’s softball team ended its ten day, 12-game California road trip on a positive note by winning its third game of the season and final game of its double header against the Cal State Northridge Matadors.
Propelled by the trio of senior shortstop Danielle Estrada, freshman pitcher Linzee Sumrall and sophomore catcher Brandy Reyes- the Red Storm bounced back from a 4-0 loss to route the Matadors, 5-0.
Estrada, a co-captain, had a two run blast that set the tempo for the rest of the game by putting the Red Storm on the scoreboard.
Reyes went 3-3 and scored two runs for the
Red Storm.
Sumrall was outstanding on the mound in picking up her first win of the season. The rookie struck out seven batters and made numerous outstanding defensive plays on the mount.
“We made a conscious decision to do things the right way in the second game,” said head coach Amy Kvilhaug. “In the second game we played great
Cal State Northridge 4, St. John’s 0
Offense was hard to come by for the Red Storm in the first game of the Cal State Northridge double header, as the Matadors shut out the Red Storm, 4-0.
Matadors starting pitcher, senior Mercedes Lovato, and the Matadors defense were outstanding in only allowing two hits.
The Matadors first got on the board in the third inning after a Red Storm error and a stolen base. The Matadors would score again in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Northridge freshman Tracy Allen.
Allen would do damage again in the fifth inning by hitting a two run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning.
In the loss, freshman pitcher Kat Lawrence allowed eight hits and struck out two.
At the Worth Invitational, The Red Storm gave up six runs in the top of the first inning and failed to rally against No. 10 Stanford, losing 13-5.
The Cardinal offense proved to be too strong for the Red Storm, as Stanford went up 9-0 by the top of the fourth inning.
Senior co-captains, pitcher Lisa Geer and shortstop Danielle Estrada, would respond with back-to-back sacrifice flies that put the Red Storm on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Outfielders Shauntaine Harris and Chelsea Durning gave the Red Storm hope with two doubles and a run in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 10-3.
The Cardinals would show why it’s one of the top ranked teams in the nation, scoring three more runs in the next innings and defeating the Red Storm in
seven innings.
Despite a small rally, the Red Storm fell to 2-11 against UC Davis, 7-3.
St. John’s came out flat and gave up six runs against the Aggies in the first four innings.
Freshman third baseman Kacee Cox would get the Red Storm on the board for the first time in the bottom of the sixth by scoring on a wild pitch.
“We did not come out strong enough,” Kvilhaug said. “This team is still growing and has taken a lot of mental lessons from today. The resiliency is there. This team has shown time and again, that they have the ability to come back.”
Despite a great performance on the mound from freshman ace Kat Lawrence, the Red Storm lost a heartbreaker to Cal State Fullerton, 5-4.
In her second game in just 24 hours against a team receiving votes in the national polls, Lawrence struck out eight batters for the Red Storm, who fell to 2-10, while the Titans improved their record to 7-6-1.
