Seton Hall completes strong season with first tournament final appearance since 2005.
May 9, 2015
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Rosemont, Ill. -- The Seton Hall softball team went toe-to-toe with BIG EAST regular season champion and tournament top seed St. John's, but the Red Storm's potent offense pulled away, breaking a 5-5 tie in the fourth inning and going on to beat the Pirates, 7-5, in the final of the BIG EAST Championship presented by New York Life Saturday at The Ballpark in Rosemont.
Freshman Sara Foster (Long Beach, Calif.) led the Pirates with two hits, two runs and an RBI on the day. Junior Alex Rabbetts (Corona, Calif.) was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Junior Yasmin Harrell (Cheektowaga, N.Y.), senior Whitney Jones (Skowhegan, Maine) and junior Jackie DiPietro (Horsham, Pa.) also drove in runs for Seton Hall, which ended the season 25-28 and earned the program's first BIG EAST Championship final appearance since 2005. Foster, senior Casey Moses (Lower Burrell, Pa.) and senior Danielle DeStaso (Congers, N.Y.) all earned BIG EAST Championship All-Tournament team honors.
After Seton Hall spotted the Red Storm a run in the first inning, the Pirates responded with a big, four-run second inning. DeStaso, Rabbetts and junior Faith Laudano (Islip, N.Y.) reached base consecutively to set up bases loaded with no outs. DiPietro's groundout to second brought home the first Hall run. Then Foster struck with an RBI single through the left side, an opposite field hit that gave the Pirates a 2-1 edge.
That brought the top of the order to the plate, and Harrell came through with a run-scoring single to right field, scoring Laudano. Jones capped the four-run frame with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Foster, making it 4-1 in favor of the Pirates.
However, the lead would be brief as St. John's offense immediately answered with three runs. The Red Storm loaded the bases with nobody out, and Hannah Anderson and Monique Landini hit back-to-back RBI singles, Landini's a two-run hit, to tie the game back up 4-4. Moses, on in relief of DeStaso, then escaped further damage with strong pitching and a great pickoff by Rabbetts at the plate, nailing Anderson at second after she strayed too far off the base.
The Pirates again loaded the bases with less than two outs in the fourth inning, but this time only mustered one run. With two outs, DeStaso hit a high chopper that Anderson could not field cleanly, allowing Foster to score unearned, giving Seton Hall the 5-4 lead.
But once again the Pirates were not able to enjoy the lead for long. The Red Storm opened their half of the fourth with three straight singles, tying the game on Krystal Puga's base-hit up the middle. A fielder's choice later in the inning scored another run, putting Seton Hall behind 6-5.
From that point on, Franscesa Carrullo settled down to retire six of the next seven Pirates hitters, and St. John's tacked on an insurance run in the fifth inning on a bases-loaded walk by Puga.
Seton Hall made a comeback attempt in the seventh when Laudano and DiPietro hit back-to-back, two-out singles to set up first and third. However, Carrullo caught Foster looking to end the game and seal the championship for St. John's.
Carrullo earned the win with the complete game, allowing five runs on eight hits. She walked five and struck out three. Moses took the loss for the Pirates one day after earning the win in the semifinals. She allowed three runs on six hits in 3-2/3 innings.
Despite the defeat, Seton Hall ends the season with numerous accomplishments as third-year head coach Paige Smith has taken a program that won a combined six BIG EAST games in the two years prior to her tenure to an increase in conference wins each of her first three seasons and the squad's first BIG EAST Championship final appearance in a decade.
May 9, 2015
Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery
Rosemont, Ill. -- The Seton Hall softball team went toe-to-toe with BIG EAST regular season champion and tournament top seed St. John's, but the Red Storm's potent offense pulled away, breaking a 5-5 tie in the fourth inning and going on to beat the Pirates, 7-5, in the final of the BIG EAST Championship presented by New York Life Saturday at The Ballpark in Rosemont.
Freshman Sara Foster (Long Beach, Calif.) led the Pirates with two hits, two runs and an RBI on the day. Junior Alex Rabbetts (Corona, Calif.) was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Junior Yasmin Harrell (Cheektowaga, N.Y.), senior Whitney Jones (Skowhegan, Maine) and junior Jackie DiPietro (Horsham, Pa.) also drove in runs for Seton Hall, which ended the season 25-28 and earned the program's first BIG EAST Championship final appearance since 2005. Foster, senior Casey Moses (Lower Burrell, Pa.) and senior Danielle DeStaso (Congers, N.Y.) all earned BIG EAST Championship All-Tournament team honors.
After Seton Hall spotted the Red Storm a run in the first inning, the Pirates responded with a big, four-run second inning. DeStaso, Rabbetts and junior Faith Laudano (Islip, N.Y.) reached base consecutively to set up bases loaded with no outs. DiPietro's groundout to second brought home the first Hall run. Then Foster struck with an RBI single through the left side, an opposite field hit that gave the Pirates a 2-1 edge.
That brought the top of the order to the plate, and Harrell came through with a run-scoring single to right field, scoring Laudano. Jones capped the four-run frame with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Foster, making it 4-1 in favor of the Pirates.
However, the lead would be brief as St. John's offense immediately answered with three runs. The Red Storm loaded the bases with nobody out, and Hannah Anderson and Monique Landini hit back-to-back RBI singles, Landini's a two-run hit, to tie the game back up 4-4. Moses, on in relief of DeStaso, then escaped further damage with strong pitching and a great pickoff by Rabbetts at the plate, nailing Anderson at second after she strayed too far off the base.
The Pirates again loaded the bases with less than two outs in the fourth inning, but this time only mustered one run. With two outs, DeStaso hit a high chopper that Anderson could not field cleanly, allowing Foster to score unearned, giving Seton Hall the 5-4 lead.
But once again the Pirates were not able to enjoy the lead for long. The Red Storm opened their half of the fourth with three straight singles, tying the game on Krystal Puga's base-hit up the middle. A fielder's choice later in the inning scored another run, putting Seton Hall behind 6-5.
From that point on, Franscesa Carrullo settled down to retire six of the next seven Pirates hitters, and St. John's tacked on an insurance run in the fifth inning on a bases-loaded walk by Puga.
Seton Hall made a comeback attempt in the seventh when Laudano and DiPietro hit back-to-back, two-out singles to set up first and third. However, Carrullo caught Foster looking to end the game and seal the championship for St. John's.
Carrullo earned the win with the complete game, allowing five runs on eight hits. She walked five and struck out three. Moses took the loss for the Pirates one day after earning the win in the semifinals. She allowed three runs on six hits in 3-2/3 innings.
Despite the defeat, Seton Hall ends the season with numerous accomplishments as third-year head coach Paige Smith has taken a program that won a combined six BIG EAST games in the two years prior to her tenure to an increase in conference wins each of her first three seasons and the squad's first BIG EAST Championship final appearance in a decade.
