Lady Bears Softball Finishes off Arizona Trip with Losses to Pacific Lutheran and No. 19 Central

TUCSON, Ariz. - The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) softball team completed their Arizona trip on Saturday afternoon, dropping their third doubleheader in as many days after falling 8-0 in five innings to both Pacific Lutheran University (10-9) and No. 19 ranked Central College (Iowa) (14-5).

Pacific Lutheran pounced on the Lady Bears early in game one, putting up a six-spot in the bottom of the first inning. The Lutes connected for five hits in the inning, highlighted by sophomore Kailyn Osaki's three-run triple.

In the bottom of the second, senior Tori Hamura tacked on another run with an RBI double and sophomore Jessica Wallace's subsequent single plated Hamura to extend St. Joseph's early deficit to 8-0.

The Lady Bears would remain quiet on offense, mustering just one hit in the contest off the bat of freshman Destiny Marino (Middle Village, N.Y./Christ the King).

Theresa Armano (Middle Village, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) settled down to toss a scoreless third inning but the freshman starter fell to 0-3 on the season. Sophomore Jamilynn McGowan (Staten Island, N.Y./Michael J. Petrides) contributed one scoreless inning in relief, striking out one.

Senior Leah Butters and freshman Makayla Bentz combined for Pacific's a one-hit shutout. Butters shut down the Lady Bears for the first two innings and Bentz closed the door in the final three, surrendering no hits and fanning three.

St. Joseph's squared off with powerhouse No. 19 Central in game two. In the bottom of the first, sophomore Abbie Voas powered a two-run homer to put the Lady Bears in another early hole.

Central's junior starter Trisha Smith struck out the side in the top of the second and the Dutch's offense tacked on another run in the bottom half of the inning following freshman Tabitha Taylor's RBI double.

Central added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, rallying for three hits and two walks. In the fifth, senior Katie Canney's line-drive two-run double to center enforced the eight-run mercy rule, cementing Central's victory while dropping St. Joseph's to 0-6.

McGowan suffered her third loss while opposing starter Smith improved to 7-1, tossing four shutout innings, fanning six and surrendering no walks.

Following their six-game Arizona trip, St. Joseph's will return east for a ten-game home stand at Padavan-Preller Field, beginning with a doubleheader (4 p.m. and 6 p.m.) against New Rochelle on March 26 in a rematch of last year's HVIAC Tournament semifinal. Live stats for both games can be found at SJCBears.com.