Smith's Homer, Shutout Lead Pirates Over Providence in BIG EAST Opener

Thursday, March 10

South Orange, N.J.

3 PM

Seton Hall University

8-7, 1-0

Providence

10-6, 0-1

Providence

Seton Hall

Smith's Homer, Shutout Lead Pirates Over Providence in BIG EAST Opener

3/10/2022 5:47:00 PM | Softball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

South Orange, N.J. – Junior Shelby Smith (Friendswood, Texas) tossed a complete-game shutout while also hitting a three-run home run in the fourth as the Pirates won their BIG EAST opener against Providence, 8-0 in six innings on Thursday. A three-run third, followed by a four-run fourth inning put the Pirates ahead before Taylor Hill (Little Falls, N.J.) singled home Amber Johnson (Belfair, Wash.) to win the game for the Pirates at Mike Sheppard, Sr., Field. The Pirates improved to 8-7 on the season with their first win to start BIG EAST-play since 2017 when they took down Villanova 8-6 in 10 innings.

Seton Hall 8 – Providence 0 (6)
How it Happened

After two scoreless frames to start the ballgame, Abby Wingo (Portland, Ore.) got the Pirates' offense churning with a leadoff double to left. Wingo quickly switched spots with Lauren Caye (Pittsburgh, Pa. ) who brought home the first run of the game with a double of her own to make it 1-0.
Two batters later, Smith would single up the middle to plate Caye. Then it would be Hill's turn with an RBI two-bagger to left to build a 3-0 lead after three for the Pirates.
In the fourth, the Pirates would pick up right where they left off as an Ashly Colonnetta (Cypress, Texas) leadoff single would come around to score on a Wingo base knock. A Baylee Allender (Rosharon, Texas) infield hit would put two runners on for Smith who promptly planted one over the centerfield fence to give the Pirates a commanding 7-0 lead after four.
Following a sixth consecutive scoreless frame for Smith in the sixth, two singles put Pirate runners at first and second with two outs and Hill at the plate. Picking up her third hit of the afternoon Hill would bring home the runner from second to give the Pirates the 8-0 victory in six innings.

Notes and Numbers

The Pirates outhit the Friars, 14-3.
Seven different Pirates got into the hit column with Wingo, Caye, Smith, Hannah Alexander (Wrightstown, N.J.) and Hill picking up multi-hit affairs in the victory.
Wingo picked up fifth double of the season which is tied for the team best while Smith drove in four runs bringing her team-leading total to 14 on the season. Wingo also extended her hitting streak to 10 games and has now reached bases in 14 of 15 games this season.
The three hits for Hill set a new single-game career best, giving her four multi-hit efforts on her freshman campaign.
Smith improved to 4-4 in the circle this season with her first complete-game shutout of the year.
The Pirates moved to 8-7 on the season, 1-0 in BIG EAST play and 2-0 at home.

What's Next
The Pirates will play a double header with Providence tomorrow starting at 12:30 p.m. The games will be streamed on FloSoftball. Live stats can be found here.