Red Flash Rips Through NEC to Take Part in First Playoff Game since 2002
Loretto, Pa. (May 3, 2008) – For the first time since 2002, the Red Flash softball team will travel to Brooklyn, N.Y. to take part in the 2008 Northeast Conference Championships thanks to a two-run rope up the middle off the lumber of junior catcher Kara Stroup (Valencia, Pa./Mars) on Senior Day at the Red Flash Softball Field.
Seniors Nicole Bender (Patton, Pa./Cambria Heights) and Richele Hall (Beaver Falls, Pa./Riverside) were honored on the diamond prior to their playoff-clinching performance after four years of dedicated service on and off the field for Saint Francis.
Saturday’s double-header commenced as a make-up date from earlier this season, but as fate would have it, Saint Francis and Monmouth University finished with records up to today’s matinee that generated a do-or-die situation. The Hawks toted a 9-7 conference record to take on SFU’s 10-6 billing with just two games left to play in the regular season. The Flash needed just one victory to punch their first ticket to the postseason since 2002 whereas Monmouth necessitated a sweep of the Flash to elongate their softball season.
Luckily for the Red Flash, a 4-2 victory in game one solidified a playoff birth before the rains came and washed away a lopsided game two that had the Hawks up 6-0 with just one out in the top of the third before the bout was called off. All stats that were recorded during the backend of the twinbill do not count.
Junior shortstop Kelly Slingwine (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine Richland) led the Flash with two hits and two RBIs along with one run while Stroup’s two-run single in the bottom half of the fifth solidified SFU’s definitive fate. SFU’s starting catcher went 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
Following a perfect game against Sacred Heart and a noteworthy performance that enabled the Flash to claim their first sweep of Pittsburgh since 1998 on Wednesday, junior hurler Laura Caldwell (Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte) went the distance in the first game against Monmouth, surrendering four hits and one earned run. Caldwell fanned six Hawks and only handed out one free pass in her 13th victory of the season. Caldwell’s final win in the last tilt of the season facilitated her name to be etched into the SFU record books. Caldwell is now tied for fifth most wins in a single-season, matching Patricia Galayda’s effort in 1997.
Monmouth jumped on the board first in the top half of the third inning when MU’s centerfielder Nicole Alvarez plastered a solo shot right over Bender to straight away center. Following MU’s home run, Bender’s senior nostalgia rendered an infield single to third base, eventually getting moved over on a fielder’s choice on a ground out by sophomore Kelly Cortese (Coatesville, Pa./Bishop Shanahan). Slingwine stepped up to the dish and blasted one through the right side of the field, plating Bender to bond the game 1-1 through three frames.
With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Monmouth rallied for another tally after Gina Mignogna reached second base after laying down a bunt back to Caldwell. SFU’s pitcher scooped it up and lobbed one over junior first baseman Nicole Waligora’s (Johnstown, Pa./Westmont Hilltop) glove for SFU’s first error of the game. Succeeding the error, Alvarez raked in her second RBI of the game on a blooper to right field, scoring Mignogna.
The Red Flash got their playoff-clinching rally started at the bottom of the fifth on a similar error when freshman Raquel Rugani (Montour, Pa./Montour) stepped in to pinch hit for junior Janelle McCoy (New Paris, Pa./Chestnut Ridge) and reached first on a throwing error from MU’s pitcher Melissa Mehrer. McCoy found her way back onto the paths as a pinch runner, eventually getting nudged over to second base after Cortese fired one at MU’s third baseman. Candice Palumbo booted the ball, yielding two runners on the tracks for the Flash with Slingwine due up. SFU’s starting shortstop then tied the game with an RBI double up the middle, plating McCoy and advancing Cortese to third. With two ducks on the pond, Stroup dug into the box and laced one past an outstretched Alexa Ferrara up the gap, sealing SFU’s destiny with one swing of the timber, ending the scoring at a 4-2 count.
Saint Francis head coach Sabrina Lane, in just her second year, piloted the Flash to victoriously emerging from 10 out of the last 11 Northeast Conference matches.
“We certainly picked up some steam in that last stretch of the season,” Lane stated. “We peaked at the right times and it got us to where we wanted to be, the Northeast Conference playoffs. Monmouth is a first-rate ball club and I tip my hat to their hard-fought efforts today. If our girls continue to compete at this level, I firmly believe we will be a tough team to take down in the playoffs.”
The Red Flash, tabbed as the #3 seed, will collide with #2 Robert Morris on Friday, May 9th at 12:30pm for the first round of the Northeast Conference Championship playoffs. Preceding SFU’s first playoff bout since 2002, #1 seed and host Long Island University will take on #4 Wagner College at 10:00am. In this double elimination format, the defeated of games one and two will meet at 3:00pm for game three while the victors will follow suit at 5:30pm for game four.
On Saturday, May 10th, the game three winner will bump heads with game four’s loser at 10:00am followed by game six of the tournament, proving to be the game four winner versus the game five winner at 12:30pm. If necessary, there will be a rematch at 3:00pm to determine the 2008 Northeast Conference Champion.