Pirates Use The Long Ball To Top Fairfield

Tuesday, March 27

South Orange, N.J.

4 p.m.

Seton Hall University

14-19

Fairfield

7-16

Fairfield

Seton Hall

3/27/2018 7:25:00 PM | Softball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall softball team (14-19) clubbed four home runs to out-slug Fairfield (7-16) and pick up a 9-7 victory in midweek action Tuesday at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Field. Alexis Walkden (Cibolo, Texas) had a pair of long balls in the win, including a go-ahead solo shot in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Walkden finished the day 3-for-4, adding a double to her pair of home runs and driving in three runs while scoring three times. Hailey Arteaga (Upland, Calif.) and Payton Beaver (Lake Stevens, Wash.) also went yard for The Hall, with the latter marking the first career home run for the freshman Beaver.

How It Happened

The Stags jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the top of the first
The Hall got within in a run in the bottom of the second, with back-to-back doubles from Baylee Allender (Rosharon, Texas) and Destini Peck (Riverside, Calfi.) to bring one home before a Jaden Tate (Las Vegas, Nev.) sacrifice fly later in the frame
After another Fairfield run, Arteaga leveled the score at 4-4 with a two-run blast in the bottom of the third
Trailing once again in the bottom of the fifth, it was Walkden who blasted a two-run shot to right center and cut the Fairfield lead to 7-6
Later in the fifth, Alyssa Prukop (Coto de Caza, Calif.) came up as a pinch-hitter and drew a bases-loaded walk that evened the score at 7-7
With the score tied in the bottom of the sixth, Walkden launched a mammoth home run over the left field fence to give The Hall its first lead of the day
Beaver added an insurance run two batters later with a solo shot of her own to push the lead to 9-7
Reganne Camp (Bloomington, Ill.) entered out of the pen for The Hall in the top of the seventh and picked up the save with a scoreless frame, getting an assist for her defense as the contest ended with a heads-up play from Allender nabbing a runner trying to score from second on an infield single

News, Notes and Numbers

The Pirates improve to 7-3 all-time against Fairfield
The win for The Hall came despite being out-hit 14-9
Seven of The Hall's nine hits went for extra bases, including a season-high four home runs
The Hall was 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position
Madison Strunk (Adkins, Texas) picked up the win with 5.1 strong innings of relief, allowing three earned runs to improve to 6-8 on the year
Strunk now has 24 career wins, eighth in SHU history
Walkden's home runs were her team-high seventh and eighth of the season and give her 49 in her career, 10 shy of The Hall's all-time record
Walkden also notched her 40^th career double in the win, eight away from the record