HUNTINGDON, Pa. (March 31) - The Saint Vincent softball team swept Juniata in a road non-conference doubleheader. The Bearcats took game one 9-1 and then overpowered the Eagles 20-3 in game two.
Saint Vincent totaled 29 runs, 33 runs and five home runs on the day. Sophomore
Shelby Noel and sophomore
Courtney Patterson each slugged two home runs. Sophomore
Emily Duerr added a home run as well.
In game one, the Bearcats got a solo run in the first when
Sarah Swettlen tripled and scored on a wild pitch. SVC added two more runs in second on a two-run home run by Patterson, who hit her second home run of the season. SVC then added two more runs to take a 5-0 lead.
SVC added another run in the fourth before the host Eagles finally got on the board with a single run, making it 6-1 Saint Vincent. The Bearcats put things away with three runs in the top of the sixth and enacting the mercy rule.
Swettlen,
Morgan Murphy, Noel and Emert each collected two hits in the win. Emert moved her pitching record to 7-1 on the season. The junior pitcher worked 6 innings, allowing one earned run on four hits. Emert struck out four batters while no issuing a walk.
The Bearcats offense put together a season-best performance in game two, scoring 20 runs on 23 hits.
Noel got things going with a solo home run in the first inning. Patterson added an RBI single to plate Duerr and give SVC a 2-0 lead after one inning. Noel then blasted a two-run home run in the second inning, making it 4-0. Patterson launched her second home run of the day, a three-run homer, in the third inning to make it 7-0.
Also in the third, Noel added an RBI single and then Duerr tallied a two-run single to make it 10-0. Senior third baseman
Christina Folino then had an RBI single to tack on another run for SVC.
In the fourth inning,
Cassidy Uscilowski ripped a two-run double off the bench, making it 13-0. Uscilowski had another RBI hit in the fifth inning. Duerr then continued the Bearcat offensive barrage, connecting on a three-run blast, to make it 20-0.
Juniata scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth but it wasn't enough to stop the mercy rule.
Six players recorded multi-hit efforts in game two, including Noel, Patterson and Duerr. Meanwhile,
Mackenzie Gostomski and Folino collected three hits. Freshmen
Kelsey Hunter and
Alexus Fearer also had two hits each. Duerr and Noel combined for nine RBIs in game two.
Duerr got the win for SVC in the circle, improving her record to 5-3 this season.
With the sweep, Saint Vincent improves to 12-6 overall. Meanwhile, Juniata dropped to 8-10 in 2016.
Saint Vincent returns to action with their PAC opener at Thomas More on Saturday, April 2. The Bearcats and Saints will face-off in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
