University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
St. John's
Red Storm Outslug Huskies 9-6
4/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 3, 2010
STORRS, Conn. - Despite three home runs which put six runs on the board, the University of Connecticut softball team fell 9-6 to St. John's in Saturday's game one slugfest. Both of the Red Storm's home runs came from Chrissy Montez, who finished the day 3-for-4 with five RBIs.
The Huskies rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning, loading the bases with no outs on the board, but were unable to push any of the runs across, falling short by three runs.
Connecticut drops to 10-18 on the season and 1-4 in BIG EAST play as St. John's earns their second-straight victory over UConn improving to 13-15 on the year and stay perfect in BIG EAST play.
Starting pitcher Tricia Sullivan (New Bedford, Mass.) got off to a rough start walking the first two batters she faced. It did not take long for the Red Storm to capitalize as clean up hitter Montez hit a three-run homerun over the right-centerfield fence to put St. John's in front of the Huskies 3-0. Sullivan would eventually settle in and get the Huskies out of the inning trailing by a score of 3-0.
The Red Storm went down quietly in the second thanks in part to a tremendous diving catch by Huskies centerfielder Jennifer Ward (Waterford, Conn.). The Huskies would break through in the bottom half of the frame. After St. John's starter Kat Lawrence set down the first five batters of the game Marissa Guches (Sammamish, Wash.) finally got the Huskies on the scoreboard with a home run over the left field fence. That would be all the Huskies could muscle and after two innings of play the Red Storm held a 3-1 advantage.
Ali Adelman (San Diego, Calif.) relieved Sullivan in the top of the third as her control problems continued and led to another St. John's run after two wild pitches. St. John's would blow the game open in the top of the fourth inning. A hard hit groundball to third base by Kacee Cox brought two runs home for the Red Storm. Montez then dug in and delivered the dagger as she once again sent a pitch over the fence for a two run homerun which gave the Red Storm a commanding 8-1 advantage.
The Huskies would not lay down as they continued to battle back. With two outs, Julianne Towers (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) reached on a throwing error by Lawrence and Brittany Duclos (Mystic, Conn.) followed with a hard single through the left side. Amy DeLuca (Bordentown, N.J.) then took the first offering from Lawrence and delivered a two out, three run homerun over the left field fence cutting the St. John's advantage to 8-4.
St. John's would tack on one more run in the top of the sixth when Cox doubled home Amber Curry for a 9-4 lead.
The Huskies made one last push in the bottom of the seventh. Amanda Martin (Rowley, Mass.) led off the inning with a walk and the Huskies called upon pinch hitter Jessica McDermott (Clarksburg, N.J.) who delivered in a big way. McDermott took the offering from Lawrence and smacked it over the left field fence for a two run homerun and cut the deficit to three. Towers then delivered a double to deep right center field and Duclos was hit by a pitch. DeLuca followed with a walk and the Huskies had the bases loaded. They were unable to push any more runs across and finished with the 9-6 loss.
The Huskies return to action Saturday afternoon in their final game of the weekend series with St. John's at 2 p.m.
