OLEAN, N.Y. - The Saint Joseph's softball team took the first two games of its series at St. Bonaventure with 13-0 and 8-2 victories on Saturday at Joyce Field.
In a dominant performance on both sides of the ball in the opener, the Hawks scored 13 on 15 hits, while Ashley Ventura allowed just two hits and struck out five in a shutout performance.
After a scoreless first inning, the Hawks broke the deadlock with six runs on six hits to open a 6-0 edge in the second. Jancarla Herrera singled home Taryn Grober for the game's first run, while Herrera scored on a fielder's choice to make it 2-0.
Senior Amanda Kulp made it 4-0 a batter later with a single that scored Carly Rybinski and Ashley Hession. Sarah Ostaszewski doubled home Kulp in the next at-bat, while a two-out double by Caela Abadie plated Ostaszewski for the final run of the second inning.
A grand slam by Ostaszewski in the third extended SJU's lead to 10, while a two-run single in the fourth by Rybinski made it 12-0. Grober collected the Hawks' final RBI in the fifth inning with a single that scored Molly Kapala.
With a comfortable lead, Ventura entered the bottom of the fifth having yet to yield a hit to the Bonnies. Unfortunately the Bonnies got hits in their first two at-bats, but Ventura shut them down from there as she retired the next three batters to improve to 10-10 on the season.
The Hawks (17-15, 6-2 Atlantic 10) picked up where they left off in game two as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first. Kulp opened the scoring as she came around to score on a fielding error by the St. Bonaventure second baseman off a ball hit by Kirstin Cox.
Cox made it 2-0 as she scored on a fielding error by the Bonnies' first baseman, while Kapala and Ostaszewski both scored on a double by Taylor Marinelli to make it 4-0. A single by Stacey Mayer pushed the lead to five as Marinelli scored.
St. Bonaventure (5-20, 2-5 A-10) answered in the bottom half of the inning with two unearned runs on a single up the middle by Grace Perechinsky.
Saint Joseph's got a run back in the top of the second as Kapala singled home Cox, then pushed its lead to 8-2 in the third on an RBI double by Kulp and an RBI ground out by Cox.
In the circle, rookie Amanda Herr improved to 5-1 on the season with the complete-game victory as she allowed two unearned runs on six hits.
The Hawks and Bonnies cap their three-game series with a noon contest on Sunday at Joyce Field.
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