 Senior Day Good to Billikens
April 27, 2008
ST. LOUIS - Senior Day at The Billiken Sports Center was good to the Saint Louis softball team as it came from behind to claim a pair of victories (6-2, 5-2) over Atlantic 10 Conference foe Rhode Island. The Billikens improved to 19-31-1, 9-9 A-10 with the sweep while the Rams fall to Rhode Island 14-36, 4-14 A-10. The Rams came out swinging in the opening game putting a run on the board in the first inning. Darci Borden started the game with a triple down the right-field line and came around to score on Shelly Petersen's bloop single over third base. In SLU's half of the second, Rhode Island starter Jill Anderson issued walks to Nicki Jost and Rachel O'Connell to start the frame. Kristain Burger's sac bunt moved both runners into scoring position before Katie Johns was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brittney Schmidt' sac bunt brought in Jost to knot the score at 1-1. Then Allison Hopke singled up the middle to drive in O'Connell for the one-run advantage. Caitlin Trevillyan pushed the lead out to 4-1 with a two-run single to left field. A sixth-inning RBI double by Leah DiBussolo cut SLU's lead to two, but Jost got that run back by sending a 1-0 offering over the fence in left center to make it 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Jost's home run was the eighth of her career, moving her into a tie for fourth place on the career chart. Then Schmidt came through with a two-out RBI single to drive in Jody Herbert, who had reached on a hit.
Stacy Gillette (5-13) earned the complete-game win after striking out six and walking two while surrendering two runs on eight hits. Anderson (9-20) suffered the loss, scattering five hits, four walks and one strikeout for six runs. Like the first game, Rhody got on the board in the first inning in the series finale. Borden reached on a bunt single and moved to second on a passed ball. She then advanced to third on a SLU error and scored on DiBussolo's sac fly to right field for the 1-0 edge. However, the Bills evened things up on Rachel Heet's RBI single in the bottom of the frame. Kristin Nicoletti scored the tying run after reaching on a fielder's choice and stealing second base. Mistakes by the Rams allowed SLU to take the lead in the third. The Bills loaded the bases when Heet reached on a two-out error, Jost was hit by a pitch and O'Connell was walked by Rhody starter Stacey Stanovich. Then Burger hit a dribbler down the third-base line but the third baseman was unable to corral the ball for the force out, and Heet crossed for the 2-1 edge. The Rams battled back to tie things up at 2-2 on Melissa Wilson's two-out sac fly in the top of the fourth. Schmidt's leadoff single in the fourth got the Billiken bats going. With two outs and Schmidt on second, Nicoletti drove a single through the right side to put SLU up for good. After Heet received a free pass, she and Nicoletti pulled off the double steal to advance into scoring position. Both runners scored on a Jost single up the middle for the 5-2 lead. Lorena Floccari (5-13) picked up the complete-game victory after scattering five hits, four strikeouts and a walk for two runs (one earned). Stanovich (5-16) was saddled with the loss after giving up five runs on five hits, three walks and three strikeouts. Jost and Schmidt each had two hits on the day to lead the SLU offense while Jost added a series-high three RBI. Schmidt and Trevillyan also contributed two RBI apiece. |
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