Softball Headed to Syracuse
4/19/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
SOFTBALL HEADS UP TO SYRACUSE FOR CRITICAL BIG EAST SHOWDOWN
Seton Hall will take on the Syracuse Orange in a three-game BIG EAST series this Saturday-Sunday, April 20-21, at the Skytop Softball Stadium in Syracuse, N.Y. The squads will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12 p.m., and wrap up the series on Sunday at 12 p.m. Syracuse leads the all-time series with Seton Hall, 15-13, and the Orange won three games over the Pirates last year up in Syracuse and have taken seven straight in the series.
LAST TIME OUT
Seton Hall went 1-2 in a weekend series with Pittsburgh last Saturday-Sunday and lost two games in a midweek doubleheader with Hofstra on Tuesday afternoon. Led by a pair of Alex Rabbetts home runs the Pirates held on to beat Pittsburgh, 4-3, last Saturday. In the rubber match on Sunday the Panthers scored five times in the top of the first before the Pirates battled all the way back to make it an 8-7 game in the seventh, but the comeback ultimately fell one-run short.
WHO TO WATCH
SETON HALL: Over the last 10 games freshman Yasmin Harrell boasts a team-high .375 average with nine stolen bases and eight runs scored. Sophomore Danielle DeStaso is hitting .241 but has a pair of homers and 10 RBI and junior Maria DeLuca is batting .355 over the last 10 contests with five RBI and six runs scored.
SYRACUSE: Jasmine Watson leads the Orange in batting and hit a solo home run against Villanova on Wednesday, her team-leading ninth of the year. Stacy Kuwik threw back-to-back complete games to beat Villanova twice on Wednesday, improving her overall record to 10-8.
SCOUTING SYRACUSE
The Orange are 16-22 overall and 4-7 in the BIG EAST. Syracuse is coming off a midweek doubleheader sweep of Villanova and has won three-straight conference games, closing out its Georgetown series with a victory last Sunday in Washington, D.C. Jasmine Watson leads the team with a .279 average with nine home runs and 20 RBI while Corinne Ozanne has had a knack for driving in runners with a team-high 30 RBI. Lindsay Taylor and Stacy Kuwik have both thrown more than 100 innings this year. Taylor boasts the better earned run average of 2.56 with 84 strikeouts but is just 4-12 overall while Kuwik has a 10-8 record.
FUTURE SCHEDULE
Seton Hall has a busy home week of conference games coming up. The Pirates host #24/24 USF in a twinbill on Tuesday, April 23, starting at 2 p.m. and then take on Connecticut in a three-game series next Saturday-Sunday, April 27-28, at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Field. The Pirates will celebrate Senior Day prior to Saturday’s set of games against the Huskies.
HEAT CHECK
• Freshman Yasmin Harrell is hitting a team-best .375 over the last 10 games with nine steals and eight runs score.
• Sophomore Danielle DeStaso has driven in 10 runs in the last 10 games and is slugging .483.
• Junior Maria DeLuca is hitting .355 in her last 10 starts with a home run and five RBI.
RABBETTS NAMED TO HONOR ROLL
Freshman catcher Alex Rabbetts was named to the BIG EAST Softball Weekly Honor Roll for the first time in her career on Monday, April 15. In the Pirates’ series with Pittsburgh she hit .571 with two homers and three RBI while slugging 1.429 and boasting a .625 on-base percentage.
BIG EAST CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Seton Hall has had a knack for playing in close games lately against BIG EAST foes as four of the Pirates’ last five conference contests have been decided by just one run, including all three games in the Pittsburgh series last weekend. Seton Hall is 5-5 in one-run games this season and 8-8 in games decided by two runs or less.
MOSES SAVES THE DAY
Sophomore Casey Moses recently found herself in a pair of save situations and converted the opportunity each time. She threw 1.2 scoreless innings without giving up a hit against Siena on April 7, and came back the next week to record her second save in as many appearances needing just 10 pitches to shutdown Pittsburgh in the seventh inning of a 4-3 SHU win.
REPEAT PERFORMANCE
Freshman Alex Rabbetts sent a pair of home runs over the fence in left field in Seton Hall’s 4-3 win over Pittsburgh on April 13. It was the first time this season a Seton Hall player hit two home runs in the same game. She currently ranks second on the team with four home runs this year.
COMEBACK KIDS
Seton Hall played its longest game of the season and used a late comeback to beat Marist, 5-4, in 10 innings on April 6. After both teams tallied just one run through nine innings, Marist scored three times in the top of the 10th, only to see the Pirates surge back with four in the bottom half of the inning. Sophomore Colltey Sheldon notched the game-winning RBI to lift SHU to a win in walkoff fashion. Sheldon has the game-winning base hit for Seton Hall in both of its extra-inning victories.
CATCH HER IF YOU CAN
Freshman center fielder Yasmin Harrell added another steal to her season total against Hofstra on April 16, and now has 21 steals to her credit this season. She ranks second in the BIG EAST in steals and 27th in the nation in steals per game with 0.6 per contest.
DESTASO FANS CAREER-HIGH 14
In the Pirates’ 10-inning comeback win over Marist on April 6, sophomore Danielle DeStaso threw all 10 innings for Seton Hall and finished with a career-high 14 strikeouts against the Red Foxes. She currently ranks seventh in school history with 239-career strikeouts.
HAEFELI ENJOYS MONSTER DAY
Sophomore right fielder Sara Haefeli played a big role in Seton Hall’s ability to hold off Siena in a high scoring game on April 7. She went 3-for-5 at the plate, driving in five runs, and hit her second home run of the season as the Pirates picked up a 14-10 win in Loudonville.
WINNING BIG
Seton Hall defeated St. John’s University, 10-0, in game two of a doubleheader on March 28. It marked the largest margin of victory for Seton Hall this season and the biggest win for the Pirates since a 15-0 victory over Central Connecticut State on March 23, 2010. It was the first time Seton Hall needed just five innings of play to secure a victory since an 11-3 win over Morgan State on Feb. 19, 2011.
