Saint Joseph's Holds Off Coast Guard, Remains in Winners' Bracket

Corey McCarthy

St. Joseph's Athletic Communications

PROVIDENCE, RI – Sixth-seeded Saint Joseph's (37-8, 21-3 GNAC) upset #2 Coast Guard (37-3, 15-1 NEWMAC), 4-3, in game eight at the Providence Regional of the NCAA DIII Softball Tournament played at Rhode Island College on Friday afternoon. Freshman hurler Rae-Marie Copan (Newton, MA) allowed three runs off five hits in five innings to collect her eighth win of the season.

With the win over Coast Guard, which entered today's tilt ranked sixth in the nation, the Monks remain in the winners' bracket and will face top-seeded Eastern Connecticut in a battle of the only unbeaten teams left at the regional on Saturday at 2:00 PM. The Bears will take on Worcester State on Saturday at noon. The Lancers lost to Rhode Island College on Thursday but bounced Husson, 10-2, in the tourney's first elimination contest earlier today.

St. Joe's recorded just four hits, but three were belted for doubles and the Royal Blue took advantage of several illegal pitches by Coast Guard starter Hayley Feindel (River Ridge, LA), who was charged with 11 such infractions in the setback and now has 34 in two tourney games.  

Saint Joseph's senior right fielder Danyelle Shufelt (Sutton, VT) led off the bottom of the first with a walk, was sacrificed to second, and moved over to third and eventually home for the game's first run on two illegal pitches by Feindel.

In the second, junior designated player Maria Labbe (Lewiston, ME) walked with two out, then scored on classmate left fielder Katelyn Call's (Portland, ME/McAuley) RBI double to center field. Call was awarded third and then home on two additional illegal pitches to give the Monks a 3-0 lead.

The Monks continued to add to their lead in the third inning. Senior center fielder Emily Leverone (Hampton, NH) doubled to left field and moved over to third on an illegal pitch. Freshman catcher Jill Howard (Rochester, NH) singled to center field to bring in Leverone and stake St. Joe's to a 4-0 lead.

Freshman shortstop Lindsay Moore (Barrington, NH) led off the fourth with an opposite field double to right field. Coast Guard sophomore Stacia Sarwinski (Grove, OK) went to a slide but could not come up with the catch despite the effort. Moore was sacrificed to third, but Feindel picked up a pair of strikeouts to close out the threat.

Coast Guard mounted a comeback bid in the top of the fifth as sophomore left fielder Megan Cook (Virginia Beach, VA) hit a flare out to center field and classmate designated player Catherine Walker (Dearborn Heights, MI) singled to left field to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After a flyout, junior second baseman Jamie Kim (Irvine, CA) lined a single to center field to load the bases. Copan induced another flyout, but junior first baseman Maddie Buchert (Metairie, LA) crushed a bases-clearing double to the gap in left center field to pull the Bears within a run, 4-3.

After the rocky fifth, SJC turned to junior reliever Maddie Kluna (Standish, ME) for the sixth. However, Coast Guard kept up the pressure as sophomore third baseman Holli Bastinck (Wayne, NJ) reached on an infield single to shortstop. Sarwinski and Cook both laid down sacrifice bunt attempts and reached on consecutive errors by the Monks to load the bases with nobody out.

The Monks managed to escape unscathed, however, Kluna induced a groundball that she turned into an out at the plate and freshman second baseman Connie Grovo (Limington, ME) followed with a game-saving play. Freshman center fielder Kaitlin Ward (Saline, MI) followed by striking a ball up the middle, but Grovo made a diving stop and fired a perfect strike to cut down the potential tying run at the plate for the second out. Freshman shortstop Lindsay Moore (Barrington, NH) scooped up a routine ground ball and flicked it over to first for the final out of the frame.

Kluna set the Bears down in order with a fly out and a pair of ground outs in the top of the seventh to preserve the victory and earn her fourth save of the year.

Feindel, now 36-3 on the year, allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on four hits and had 11 strikeouts. The junior leads the nation in wins and strikeouts (424) and is the NCAA DIII all-time leader in K's with 1,173 in three seasons.

For the Bears, Buchert went 1-for-3 and drove in all three of Coast Guard's runs. For the Monks, Call went 1-for-2 with a run and an RBI.

Saint Joseph's is now 3-0 in the history of the series with Coast Guard Academy. The teams last played during the 1992 campaign.