FARMINGDALE, N.Y. —  On a rainy Friday afternoon in an elimination game at the 2022 Skyline Softball Championship, the No. 5-seeded St. Joseph's University softball team erupted for 12 runs in the seventh inning to break a 5-5 deadlock with No. 3-seeded Mount Saint Mary College. The Bears staved off elimination and bypassed the Knights, 17-5.

St. Joseph's squared off with No. 2-seeded Manhattanville in another elimination game before play was halted due to the rain after the first inning with the Bears leading, 4-3.

How it Happened 

The Bears got on the board quickly just two batters in with Bella Gomez (Whittier, Calif./Sonora) drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second and scoring on a Knights miscue after an Arianna Heinsch (Brooklyn, N.Y./Fontbonne Hall Academy) single. Later in the frame, an Ashleigh Hartwig (Santee, Calif./West Hills) sacrifice squeeze put SJBK up 2-0 after one.

 The navy-and-gray added two more in the fourth after Gomez belted a double, moved to third, and scored on Heinsch sacrifice. A Hartwig two-out single to score Heinsch padded the lead to 4-0.

Autumn Poppett (San Diego, Calif./Mission Hills) had a strong start in the circle holding the Knights hitless through four and worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth after a pair of walks and hit batter.

A Lauren Van Der Kamp (Sacramento, Calif./Rosemont) RBI single in the fifth expanded the Bears lead to five before the Knights got on the board on a sacrifice fly and a Samantha Bendig home run. MSMC drew even in the sixth when Bendig homered again with a two-out, three-run shot. 

Despite seeing their lead disappear, the Bears responded in a big way in the seventh. A Heinsch two-run triple put the Bears back ahead for good and St. Joseph's added 10 more runs all scoring with two outs. Hartwig drove in three runs on a pair of hits in the inning and Sofia Logreco (San Diego, Calif./Mission Hills) doubled twice to score a pair. Van Der Kamp also knocked a bases-loaded two-run single.

Gabriella Salvador (Staten Island, N.Y./New Dorp) tossed the final 1.1 innings allowing just one hit and picked up the win in relief to improve to 4-1.

For the Bears

• The No. 2 batting team in the country outslugged the Knights 19 hits to five.
• Hartwig led the Bears going 4-for-4 with five RBI and a double.
• Van Der Kamp finished 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored.
• Heinsch drove in four runs and scored as many times in a 2-for-4 day at the dish.
• Gomez also finished 2-for-4 and scored four times with a RBI and double.
• Logreco knocked two of the four Bear doubles, drove in a run and scored once.
• Bella Hurtado (San Diego, Calif./Olympian) rounded out six-multi hit efforts with a 2-for-4 day.
• Poppett went five innings allowing two runs on two hits with a strikeout in a no-decision.

Next Up

Pending weather, the Bears will resume their halted game with Manhattanville tomorrow at 1 p.m. When play resumes in the top of the second inning, the Bears will be ahead 4-3 and are batting as the home team. The winner will advance to the championship series and will face top-seeded Farmingdale State.