Walkden Ties HR Mark, Hall Falls at Butler 4-3
Freshman Alexis Walkden hits 18th HR of the year, but SHU loses on the road.
Freshman Alexis Walkden tied an SHU single-season record with her 18th home run of the year.
April 25, 2015
Box Score | Box Score
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. - With a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning, freshman third baseman Alexis Walkden (Cibolo, Texas) tied the Seton Hall softball single-season home run record, with her 18th bomb of the year, but despite hitting three homers as a team, the Pirates fell to BIG EAST foe Butler, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon.
The Pirates were trailing 4-1 entering the final two innings, when with one out in the sixth, Walkden left the park for the 18th time this year, matching the SHU single-season mark of 18 set by Laura Taylor back in 2002. Coincidentally, those 18 homers also represent the Seton Hall freshman mark, as that was the start of what turned into a four-year onslaught of a career-record 59 homers for Taylor.
Although Walkden did match the single-season HR mark, the offensive star for the Pirates was senior Danielle DeStaso (Congers, N.Y.), who smacked a pair of solo shots, the second of which came with two outs in the sixth, pulling the Pirates within 4-3 in the process.
DeStaso's day represented a remarkable ninth multi-home run performance of the year for The Hall, impressive because the program entered the season with just 13 individual multi-home run games in its history. As a team, Seton Hall has hit 54 home runs in 2015, shattering the old record of 40, established in 2006.
DeStaso increased her career tally to 33 homers, good for second all-time at SHU, and now has a career-best 10 home runs this season.
Despite all of the offensive fireworks, all three homers were solo shots, and Seton Hall ultimately fell short after spotting Butler a 3-0 lead in the third.
The Bulldogs would hit just one home run on the day, but it was a big one, a three-run shot from Kristen Boros. Following a walk and base hit to left, with two outs in the third, Boros hit a three-run homer off DeStaso to give Butler that 3-0 lead.
In the next half inning, DeStaso would get one of the runs back, sending a solo homer out to right center to cut the deficit to 3-1. However, the cushion was back to three thanks to a Brandyce Sallee RBI double in the fifth, and SHU's late surge came up just short.
Butler had just six hits on the day, but three were for extra bases. DeStaso fell to 9-12, giving up four runs on five hits with four strikeouts over four innings. Lauren Fischer (Robbinsville, N.J.) came in to pitch in the fifth, and allowed one hit over the final two innings.
The teams were originally scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday, but could only get in one game due to persistent rainfall throughout the day.
They will now face one another twice on Sunday, in a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. (ET).
http://www.shupirates.com/sports/w-softbl/recaps/042515aac.html
Freshman Alexis Walkden hits 18th HR of the year, but SHU loses on the road.
Freshman Alexis Walkden tied an SHU single-season record with her 18th home run of the year.
April 25, 2015
Box Score | Box Score
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. - With a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning, freshman third baseman Alexis Walkden (Cibolo, Texas) tied the Seton Hall softball single-season home run record, with her 18th bomb of the year, but despite hitting three homers as a team, the Pirates fell to BIG EAST foe Butler, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon.
The Pirates were trailing 4-1 entering the final two innings, when with one out in the sixth, Walkden left the park for the 18th time this year, matching the SHU single-season mark of 18 set by Laura Taylor back in 2002. Coincidentally, those 18 homers also represent the Seton Hall freshman mark, as that was the start of what turned into a four-year onslaught of a career-record 59 homers for Taylor.
Although Walkden did match the single-season HR mark, the offensive star for the Pirates was senior Danielle DeStaso (Congers, N.Y.), who smacked a pair of solo shots, the second of which came with two outs in the sixth, pulling the Pirates within 4-3 in the process.
DeStaso's day represented a remarkable ninth multi-home run performance of the year for The Hall, impressive because the program entered the season with just 13 individual multi-home run games in its history. As a team, Seton Hall has hit 54 home runs in 2015, shattering the old record of 40, established in 2006.
DeStaso increased her career tally to 33 homers, good for second all-time at SHU, and now has a career-best 10 home runs this season.
Despite all of the offensive fireworks, all three homers were solo shots, and Seton Hall ultimately fell short after spotting Butler a 3-0 lead in the third.
The Bulldogs would hit just one home run on the day, but it was a big one, a three-run shot from Kristen Boros. Following a walk and base hit to left, with two outs in the third, Boros hit a three-run homer off DeStaso to give Butler that 3-0 lead.
In the next half inning, DeStaso would get one of the runs back, sending a solo homer out to right center to cut the deficit to 3-1. However, the cushion was back to three thanks to a Brandyce Sallee RBI double in the fifth, and SHU's late surge came up just short.
Butler had just six hits on the day, but three were for extra bases. DeStaso fell to 9-12, giving up four runs on five hits with four strikeouts over four innings. Lauren Fischer (Robbinsville, N.J.) came in to pitch in the fifth, and allowed one hit over the final two innings.
The teams were originally scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday, but could only get in one game due to persistent rainfall throughout the day.
They will now face one another twice on Sunday, in a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. (ET).
http://www.shupirates.com/sports/w-softbl/recaps/042515aac.html
