KINGSTON, R.I. - The Saint Joseph's softball team erupted for 20 runs on 25 hits in a 20-1 victory in its opening game at Rhode Island on Saturday. Hawks' junior pitcher Ashley Ventura followed with a stellar performance, keeping the Rams' offense quiet in a 4-0 victory in game two.
In the opener, Rhode Island jumped out to a 1-0 edge in the bottom of the first off a leadoff home run by Adriana Toro. Saint Joseph's starter Ashley Ventura would dominate from there, holding the Rams to just seven more hits over a combined 11 innings the rest of the day.
Saint Joseph's (17-22, 4-10 Atlantic 10) would threaten in the second, third and fourth, but was held scoreless
The Hawks would break through in the fifth in a big way, plating eight runs to take an 8-1 lead. Senior Lauren Reilly got the scoring started with an RBI single that plated Sarah Ostaszewski. A fielding error off a ball hit by Taylor Marinelli allowed Caela Abadie to score, while a fielder's choice scored Reilly to make it 3-1.
Singles by Molly Kapala and Kirstin Cox scored Stacey Mayer and Marinelli, respectively, to push the lead to four. Abadie followed with a bases-loaded walk to score Jancarla Herrera and Reilly finished up the scoring with a two-run double that plated Kapala and Cox to make it 8-1.
Ventura and the Hawks worked around a two-out single in the bottom of the fifth and the SJU offense kept its momentum going in the sixth.
Accounting for 12 runs on 14 hits, the Hawks had arguably their best offensive inning of the season in the sixth as they opened a 20-1 lead.
An RBI single by Kapala scored Taryn Grober to get the scoring started, with Abadie singling to make it 10-1 as Kapala scored.
Two-run doubles by Reilly, Mayer and Grober combined to score five to open a 15-1 edge.
Herrera, Cox, Ostaszewski and Reilly would account for the final five runs on single to make it 20-1 heading to the bottom of the sixth.
Reliever Chelsea Evans made easy work of the Rams in the sixth to close out the win for SJU.
For the game, all nine starting batters collected at least one hit and one run scored. Abadie, Kapala, Cox and Ostaszewski each had four hits and drove in two, while Reilly was 4-for-6 with a game-high six runs batted in.
In the circle, Ventura picked up the win allowing one run on five hits and struck out four.
In game two, SJU opened a 2-0 lead in the top of the first as Ostaszewski tripled to score Mayer and would come around to score off a double by Abadie.
Ventura would weave a gem from there, allowing just three hits over the first five innings.
The Hawks added to their lead in the sixth as Abadie connected on a two-run home run to make it 4-0.
Ventura and Evans slammed the door from there as they combined for a pair of scoreless innings to preserve the win.
Ventura improved to 8-13 on the season with the win as she allowed just three hits over 6.0 innings and struck out five.
The two teams cap their series on Sunday with a single game starting at noon.
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