The Saint Louis University softball team continued their Atlantic 10 conference schedule on April 23-24 when they hosted Saint Joseph’s. The Billikens grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when junior Brittany Durant stole home as part of a double steal. The Billikens tacked on two more runs in the fifth after a two-run slam from junior shortstop Alex Nickel that sailed into right field. Saint Joseph’s got on the board in the seventh after scoring an unearned run. They threatened to tie, but senior pitcher Brianna Lore put the game away and was credited with her tenth win of the season. Lore allowed just four hits, sent two batters back to the bench and walked one player during the 3-0 victory.
In the second matchup, Saint Joseph’s scored once in both of the first innings to take a 2-0 lead. Senior pitcher Laney Kneib kept the Billikens in the game by closing out the first two innings while runners were threatening to score – two in the first inning and three in the second.
Sophomore infielder Allie Macfarlane tied the game in the bottom of the second, recording her sixth home run of the season with a two-run blast down the right field line. The game remained tied until the eighth inning. Junior first baseman Emma Buckles came through for the Billikens with the game-winning hit, following a two-out error, that sealed the 3-2 victory for SLU. Kneib recorded eight hits, but just three in the final six innings. She struck out three and walked three in her fifth victory of the season.
In the final game of the series, Saint Joseph’s jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first. SLU cut their deficit in half in the third with a two-out run as senior third baseman Elizabeth Everingham hit her first RBI of the day with a single. The Bills tied the game in the fifth when junior outfielder Mackenzie Peter hit a solo home run and landed a new school record for season home runs, 12, which broke the record set by Nickel last year.
Saint Joseph’s responded in the sixth with three runs, two of which were unearned, to take a 5-2 lead. Peter broke the dry spell for the Billiken offense in the seventh after being hit by a pitch. She was the first batter of seven attempts to get on base, before Buckles went on to hit her third double of the day and Everingham followed this up with a two-run single to make the score 5-4. Lore kept the momentum going with a single. This was followed by a Macfarlane single that brought home sophomore infielder Miranda Cotton for the tying run. Sophomore infielder Alyssa Tarquino hit a ground ball that could not be handled by the shortstop and allowed Durant to sprint home from third to give the Billikens the 6-5 victory. SLU improves to 10-7 in the A-10 and 20-23 overall.
This weekend SLU will travel to Virginia to play George Mason on April 30-31. They will return home to play George Washington at the Billiken Athletic Complex for their final three-game series of the season on May 7-8. The Atlantic 10 Conference Championships will be held on May 11-14 in Washington D.C.
