April 14, 2007

Box Score

EAST NORRITON, PA - The Saint Joseph's softball team earned a sweep of its Atlantic 10 series with Dayton as the Hawks downed the Flyers 5-4 Saturday afternoon at East Norriton Field.

Coming off a 5-2 win over Dayton on Friday, Saint Joseph's got on the board first in the bottom of the second as sophomore Dani Gonzales led off with a homerun to centerfield off Dayton's Eva Rappe to put the Hawks up 1-0.

Up 1-0, the Hawks added to their lead in the bottom of the third on a two-RBI double down the left field line by Gonzales, scoring classmates Erika Rosenwinkel and Kelsey Moir to put Saint Joseph's up 3-0.

Trailing by three, the Flyers rallied in the top of the fifth to tie the game. With two outs and Mollie Schrank at first base, the Flyers' Blair Crabtree singled to centerfield where the Hawks' centerfielder misplayed the ball, allowing it to roll to the fence. Schrank came around to cut the deficit to 3-1, while Crabtree advanced to second on the error. With two outs and a runner in scoring position, Sheena Rothwell homered to rightfield off Saint Joseph's starter Lauren Cognigni to tie the game. Gonzales came in for relief of Cognigni and got Laura Mastthews to ground out to end the inning

Despite giving up the lead in the top half of the inning, the Hawks regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth. With a runner at third with one out, Rosenwinkel homered to deep left field off Rappe to put Saint Joseph's ahead 5-3.

Down 5-3 in the top of the seventh, Crabtree singled with one out and advanced to third on a double by Sheena Rothwell. With runners in scoring position, Dayton cut the deficit to 5-4 as a pitch from Gonzales got past the Hawks' catcher allowing Crabtree to score.

With the tying run at third, Gonzales shut the door on the Flyers as she struck out Matthews and got Tamsyn Kellough to fly out to rightfield to end the game.

Offensively for Saint Joseph's, Moir went 2-for-3 on the day with a pair of doubles and two runs scored, while Rosenwinkel finished 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and RBIs. Gonzalres, who went 2-for-2 at the plate with three RBIs, improved to 5-3 on the season with the victory as she allowed one run on two hits, while striking out two.

With the win, the Hawks improve to 4-4 in the Atlantic 10 and 11-17 overall. Dayton falls to 5-20 overall and 1-8 in conference play.

Saint Joseph's returns to action Wednesday, April 18, as the Hawks travel to Temple for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.