Saint Joseph's rookie pitcher Chelsea Evans tossed the 12th no-hitter in program history as the Hawks blanked La Salle, 7-0, in the nightcap after rallying for a 9-8 win in game one of Thursday's doubleheader at the SJU Softball Field.
Coming off a win in relief in game one, Evans stymied the Explorers' hitters in the nightcap as she allowed just three walks and hit one batter in becoming the first SJU pitcher to no-hit an opponent since Ashley Ventura held La Salle hitless in a 9-0 five-inning victory on April 27, 2017.
With Evans dominating in the circle, the Hawks got to work at the plate. After being hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the first, Molly Kapala advanced to third and came around to score on wild pitch by La Salle starter Marlo Roadcap to make it 1-0.
The Hawks (20-22, 7-10 A-10) added to their lead in the second as Kapala and freshman Kirstin Cox scored on a two-run single by Sarah Ostaszewski.
The offense continued to click in the fifth as Taryn Grober led off the bottom of the inning with a bomb to left for her second home run of the season, while Jancarla Herrera would later score off a sacrifice fly by Caela Abadie to make it 5-0.
Taylor Marinelli added an insurance run in the sixth as she scored off a fielder's choice by Jancarla Herrera to push the Hawks' lead to 6-0.
Heading back to the circle three outs away from history, Evans made quick work of La Salle. After back-to-back ground outs, Evans got Taylor Rorhbaugh to pop up to second baseman Stacey Mayer to complete the no-hitter.
Evans, who tossed 7.0 no-hit innings for her third complete game of the year, became the first player to record a no-hitter at the SJU Softball Field.
At the plate, Kapala was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Ostaszewski drove in a game-high two runs.
In a back-and-forth contest, Saint Joseph's rallied to top the Explorers, 9-8, in game one.
Following a two-run top of the seventh that saw La Salle take an 8-7 lead, the Hawks opened the bottom half of the inning with a Marinelli single to center. After a sacrifice bunt by Grober advanced her to second, Marinelli dashed to third as the Explorers misplayed a ball hit by Herrera, putting runners at the corners.
Kapala drove in Marinelli to tie the game at 8-8, and after an infield single by Cox, Ostaszewski delivered the game-winning run off a hard-hit ball that was misplayed by the La Salle first baseman, allowing Herrera to score.
Lauren Reilly opened the first game's scoring with a two-out single in bottom of the first that scored Cox and Ostaszewski to make it 2-0.
The Explorers struck for four runs on four hits and took advantage of a pair of SJU errors to take a 4-2 lead in the top of the third.
Reilly again came through with two-outs for SJU, this time in the second as her two-run single scored Kapala and Cox to tie the game at 4-4.
Marinelli gave SJU the lead again in the third as she drove Abadie home from third on an infield ground out.
La Salle retook the lead, 6-5, in the fourth on an RBI single by Emily Conaway that scored Angelina Refice and a sacrifice fly by Marissa Ewald scored Emma Schweigert.
A two-out single by Ostaszewski scored Kapala from second to tie it at 6-6 in the fourth, while Ostaszewski would score off a Reilly sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth to put the Hawks ahead, 7-6.
Battling in their final at-bat, La Salle pushed two runs across to retake the lead, 8-7. Marissa Ewald scored off a wild pitch to tie the game at seven, while Rohrbaugh would come around to give the Explorers the lead on a RBI-single by Refice.
The bottom of the seventh rally gave Evans the win in relief as she allowed one earned run and four hits over 3.2 innings. Ashley Ventura tossed 3.1 innings in a start and allowed five earned runs.
Reilly finished the game 2-for-3 with five runs batted in, with Marinelli, Ostaszewski and Cox each collecting three hits apiece in the opener.
The Hawks are back in action this weekend at George Washington starting with a doubleheader at noon on Saturday.
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