Stella VanGee and
Vivian Johnson each had three hits on the day and
Sofia Berryhill and
Hannah Reardon each set career highs in strikeouts in their complete-game wins as the St. Lawrence softball team concluded their regular season with a doubleheader sweep against the SUNY Canton Kangaroos.
The Saints move to 21-15 on the year, eclipsing the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2017 campaign.
St. Lawrence quickly got a double-digit lead in the first game after scoring eight in the first and three in the second, eventually winning 12-1 after five. Game two was tight early but a nine-run fourth inning gave the Saints all they needed in the 10-1 five-inning victory.
Emily Wendt drove in three runs to lead the team, and
Quinn Jerome had her first career hit in game one and then drove in her first run in the second game. Berryhill and Reardon each pitched five innings, allowing one run on two hits, with Berryhill fanning 11 batters and Reardon striking out 10.
Game 1: St. Lawrence 12, SUNY Canton 1 (5 innings)
The Saints opened their penultimate regular-season game with eight runs in the first inning after the offense drew five walks and Johnson, VanGee, and Wendt all recorded singles in the frame.
Despite walking and giving up a single to the first two batters, Berryhill got a groundball to first and then struck out the next two batters to leave two on. These strikeouts started a stretch of seven straight batters fanned by the senior who also earned her 200th career strikeout in this stretch.
The Saints added three more runs in the second and then another in the third after VanGee got her third hit of the game, this one a double, and then
Emily Crain drove her home with a single.
In the fourth, the Roos got their first run of the inning after a leadoff triple that later came around to score on a wild pitch. In the bottom half, the Saints failed to score, but Jerome got her first career hit in the inning with a single into left field.
In the fifth, Berryhill struck out the side, and the Scarlet and Brown got the 12-1 victory.
Game 2: St. Lawrence 10, SUNY Canton 1 (5 innings)
After a scoreless first inning,
Stella VanGee reached on a fielding error in the second, and then Camillieri also got to first base via an error. VanGee proceeded to score off that throwing error to give the Saints their first run of the game.
Reardon got her second career start for St. Lawrence and began by striking out four through the first two frames. However, the Roos got on the board in the third after a fielding error and a double tied the game at one.
In the fourth, the Saints broke through offensively in a big way with all nine players in the lineup reaching in the inning, and everyone crossing the plate, highlighted by a two-RBI single from
Allison Kloft to take a 10-1 lead.
In the Roos' final at-bats, Reardon added two more strikeouts to her total, retiring the side in order as the Saints ended the game prematurely for the second time on the day.
Up Next:
The Saints will next be in action as the five-seed in the Liberty League playoffs, playing against the fourth-seeded Rensselaer Engineers on Thursday, May 8, on the campus of top-seeded University of Rochester. Should they win that game, they would enter the four-team Liberty League double-elimination tournament.
