Softball Starts With Two Wins

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – University of Saint Joseph freshman Haley McCall (Lebanon, Conn.) went a combined five-for-six with four doubles and five runs scored as the USJ softball team opened its 2013 with two victories Friday at the Pepper Gedding Complex.

USJ began with an 8-2 victory over Wentworth Institute of Technology and finished the day with a 7-5 victory over Cazenovia.

In the opener, Ashley Gall (Stafford Springs, Conn.) went 4-for-4 for the Blue Jays with four RBI as she drove in a run with each hit. McCall opened the game with a double to left center, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a single to left from Gall. In the third inning, McCall doubled to center, moved up on a passed ball and scored when Stephanie Valerio (Wolcott, Conn.) reached on a fielder's choice. Valerio then stole second and scored on Gall's double to right to put USJ ahead, 3-0.

The lead grew to 6-0 in the fourth when McCall, winning pitcher Emily Hummel (Hebron, Conn.) and Gall all had RBI-singles. After Wentworth put up single runs in the fourth and fifth, USJ completed the scoring with two sixth-inning runs as Gall was again in the middle of Blue Jay rally. Valerio doubled and came home on a single by Gall, who eventually scored on an error.

Hummel allowed three hits, an unearned run, struck out seven and walked one for the victory. Emily Vigue (Lebanon, Conn.) struck out four and walked one over the final three innings for a save. USJ outhit Wentworth, 14-6.

Freshman Patti Sciglimpaglia (Norwalk, Conn.) pitched five innings for the win in the late game and went 3-for-3 in including her first collegiate homer as part of a 13-hit attack.

USJ broke on top early again against Cazenovia as McCall doubled to start the game, advanced on one ground out and scored on Hummel's infield grounder. After Cazenovia scored twice in the first, USJ tied it in the third at 2-2 as the same pair teamed up for another run. This time McCall doubled and scored on Hummel's base hit to right.

USJ took a 5-2 lead in the fifth with a three-run rally. Vigue had a pinch-hit, infield single to score Hummel with the lead run, Mary Sciglimpaglia (Norwalk, Conn.) drove in another on a fielder's choice and Patti Sciglimpaglia singled home the final run.

Patti Sciglimpaglia gave the Blue Jays some insurance that proved to be vital with her two-out, two-run homer in the sixth that easily cleared the fence in left center field and put St. Joseph ahead, 7-2. Cazenovia would score three unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Colleen Ecsedy, pitching in relief, ended the game with a strikeout while facing the potential tying run. Patti Sciglimpaglia struck out six and walked one in five, four-hit innings and Ecsedy struck out two in the final two innings.

Saint Joseph returns to action at the Fastpitch Dreams event Sat. March 16 as the Blue Jays take on Division-II Ursuline in a 9:30 a.m. doubleheader.