May 9, 2009

Box Score

BRONX, N.Y. - Saint Joseph's softball stayed alive in the loser's bracket at the 2009 Atlantic 10 Championship with a 3-1 win over third-seeded Saint Louis behind another complete-game performance from Dani Gonzales.

The Hawks will now play Charlotte at noon on Saturday for the right to meet Massachusetts in the championship game at 2:00 p.m. If Massachusetts loses that game, a second game will be necessary to crown the champion, which will take place on Sunday at noon.

The Billikens got on the board first, picking up a run in the bottom of the first when Kristin Nicoletti opened the inning with a single and she stole second. Rachel Heet followed with a double to score Nicoletti and give Saint Louis an early 1-0 lead.

Saint Joseph's came back with a three-run third to take a 3-1 lead. Shumock led off the Hawks' third reaching on an error and moved to second on a passed ball. Sue Lebow moved Shumock to third with a sacrifice where Falk came on to pinch run. Moran brought home Falk with an infield single and Cardone and Bieniek followed with singles, with Bieniek's hit delivering Moran. Aguilar then plated Cardone with a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-1 game.

Gonzales made the three runs stand up, allowing two hits the rest of the way to improve to 15-12 on the year. She struck out eight and walked one while allowing just five hits and the one run.

Moran collected a pair of hits for Saint Joseph's, who improves to 26-19 on the year, while Heet recorded a pair of hits for Saint Louis, who closes out the season with a 22-33 record.