The Seton Hall softball team dropped the first two games of a three-game series with the DePaul Blue Demons in a Big East doubleheader on Saturday at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Field, falling 8-3 and 6-2, respectively.
The Pirates fall to 24-27 on the year and are now 7-9 in conference play, losing crucial ground in the conference standings. They hold sole possession of sixth place. The top four conference teams qualify for the Big East Championship in Rosemont, Illinois. DePaul (22-24, 13-3) was able to extend its lead in the conference by pulling away late in each game after Seton Hall gave the Blue Demons all they could handle early on.
In game one, it was Seton Hall who struck first in the bottom of the second inning when freshman Ragen Reddick knocked an RBI single into left field, driving in Jacki DiPietro for a 1-0 lead. The Pirates would surrender the lead in the top of the third, and then fell behind 3-1 after allowing two runs in the top of the fourth.
The Pirates would tie up the score with a two-run home run by freshman Chrisa Head in the bottom of the fifth, also bringing home Yasmin Harrell, who had singled earlier in the inning.
From there, however, the Pirates crumbled, giving up four runs in the sixth and one run in the seventh, all unanswered. Head, who also pitched in game one, suffered the loss, and her day was done after 5 1/3 innings pitched. She gave up seven runs (four earned) and walked five batters while striking out only two. Head was pulled after allowing a three-run home run to opposing pitcher Morgan Maize, from which the Pirates could not recover.
A similar sequence of events occurred for the Pirates in game two. Down 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Seton Hall would tie the game up with an RBI single by senior Alex Rabbetts after getting on the board with an RBI single from Head two batters earlier.
Again however, this would be it as far as offense from the Hall. DePaul would score four runs in the top of the seventh inning to put the game away. Freshman Madison Strunk was pulled after a 2-RBI double by Nicole Pihl, ending her day after 6.2 innings, and allowing six runs on eight hits, while walking three and striking out one.
Seton Hall will look to rebound and avoid a sweep against DePaul Sunday at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Field, with the first pitch coming at 12 PM.
