BROOKVILLE, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's University, N.Y. (Brooklyn) softball team earned a pair of wins over sibling school St Joseph's (Long Island) on Friday afternoon, 5-3 and 7-3.
Game 1
During three scoreless innings to open the game, junior pitcher Makena Burr (Foster City, Calif.) reached her 200th career strikeout, becoming the sixth Bear in program history to accomplish the feat and the first since 2019.
A two-out, two-run double in the fourth gave the Golden Eagles the advantage before a bases-loaded walk and a hit-by-pitch allowed the Bears to tie the score in the bottom of the inning. Both sides traded RBI singles in the fifth to enter the sixth knotted at 3.
After the Bears held the Golden Eagles to one baserunner in the top of the seventh, Nicole Shultz (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) led off the bottom half with a walk. Two batters later, Payton Walker (Eastvale, Calif.) belted a walk-off home run to secure the 5-3 victory.
The walk-off was the team's first since defeating Mount Saint Vincent in the 2023 Skyline First Round. Walker and Shultz each had two hits and two runs, combining for three RBIs. Brielle Nelson (Chandler, Ariz.) and Audrey Scott (Rocklin, Calif.) each drove in a run. Burr struck out nine to improve to 11-4 on the season.
Game 2
Scoring opened in the third inning when Leila Heller (Belle Chasse, La.) singled in the game's first run. Heller and Walker later scored on a single by Scott. Heller increased the lead to 6-1 in the fourth with a two-run double.
The visitors added a run in the fifth, but the Bears pushed the advantage to 7-2 on an Alyssa Garcia (Montebello, Calif.) single to center field. Long Island added a third run in the seventh, but the Bears held on to confirm the sweep.
Heller finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Scott, Makena Lopez (Eastvale, Calif.), and Vivian Garcia (Eastvale, Calif.) each had two hits, while Shultz, Nelson, and A. Garcia added base hits. A. Garcia also struck out six in a complete-game effort in the circle.
The Bears conclude the regular season at Farmingdale State College on Saturday, May 2, at noon.
