Loretto, Pa. – Freshman Haileigh Stocks (Jamison, Pa. / Central Bucks South) of the Robert Morris University softball team hit a tie-breaking grand slam with two outs in the seventh inning of the nightcap to help the Colonials sweep in-state rival Saint Francis in Northeast Conference (NEC) action Tuesday afternoon at a cloudy Red Flash Field.
RMU won in contrasting styles as it cruised, 8-1, in the opener before needing a five-run rally in the final frame of Game Two to claim a 6-4 victory.
Stocks went a combined 4-for-8 on the day with two home runs, six RBI and three runs scored. She tallied the first three-hit game of her career in the opener and tallied multiple RBI in both games. Stocks' team-leading sixth long ball, which proved to provide the margin of victory in Game Two, served as the second grand slam of the rookie's season.
Stocks was one of a quartet of Colonials who homered on the day as Robert Morris hit three blasts in the opener and two more in the nightcap.
Sophomore Samantha Santillo (Ellwood City, Pa. / Lincoln) was 4-for-7 on the afternoon with a home run, the seventh of her career, and also started RMU's key seventh-inning rally with a sharp single. Santillo notched her first three-hit game of the season, and third of career, in the opener, which doubled as her 16th career multi-hit game.
Senior Maritza Jimenez (Vineland, N.J. / Vineland) and freshman Ashley Gerhart (Imperial, Pa. / West Allegheny) each were a combined 3-for-8 on the day with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored.
Gerhart, who also doubled and walked on the day, notched her third three-hit game of the season and her team-leading ninth multi-hit game in the opener. Her first-career home run also helped her produce the second multi-RBI outing of the season.
While the aforementioned Colonials and their teammates were busy on offense in the opener, sophomore Nicole Sleith (Smithton, Pa. / Yough) went the distance in the circle and twirled a one-hitter without allowing an earned run. She struck out six batters without conceding a single walk or hitting a batter. In doing so, Sleith has now allowed one earned run in her last five starts combined, each of which has been seven innings in length.
Robert Morris broke out the bats in the opener as it tallied a season-best 16 hits, including five for extra bases.
Gerhart set the tone from the opening at bat by working an eight-pitch walk to reach base. Freshman Lauren Hackett (Glenshaw, Pa. / Shaler Area) followed with a sacrifice to move along her classmate before Stocks punched a RBI single into right. Stocks would advance all the way to third on an error by the Red Flash and would come home when Jimenez followed with a RBI groundout.
After Sleith sent down Saint Francis in order in the bottom half, the Colonials doubled their lead in the second.
Santillo singled sharply on a line into center on the first pitch of the inning. Freshman Kristen Gabelt (Ligonier, Pa. / Ligonier Valley) would sacrifice the runner along and, with two outs, junior Cassie Show (Connellsville, Pa. / Connellsville) singled down the left field line to score pinch-runner Jessica Tanigawa (Marysville, Wash. / Marysville-Pitchuck). Show would soon steal second and then came around to score when Gerhart ripped a 2-2 pitch that one-hopped the fence in center for a double.
Sleith again sent down the hosts in order in the second on a pair of strikeouts and a flyout.
Stocks crushed a 2-1 offering well over the fence in left to lead off the third. One out later, sophomore Tess Apke (Mt. Lebanon, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon), Santillo and Gabelt had consecutive singles to load the bases, but the trio would be left aboard.
Saint Francis picked up an unearned run in the third as a miscue was followed by a deep flyout and a RBI groundout to break up the shutout.
RMU would not score in the fourth although Stocks posted her third hit in four innings with a single into right.
Sleith retired the side in order in the bottom half, and Santillo would launch a 1-1 pitch on a line over the fence in left center in the top of the fifth to push the Colonial lead back to five. Senior Britta Grafton (Jamestown, Pa. / Jamestown) worked a full count walk with two outs in the inning but would not advance.
Sleith had two more strikeouts and a groundout that she handled herself in the bottom of the fifth to get RMU back to the bat rack.
Gerhart led off the sixth by driving the first pitch she saw over the fence in left center, making her first-ever homer of the opposite-field variety. Jimenez would single with two down in the inning and then came around to score when Apke doubled a pitch down the left field line.
Sleith tallied her fifth 1-2-3 inning of the game in the bottom of the sixth as she used a pair of groundouts and a flyout to shut down the Red Flash.
Grafton, Show and Gerhart then all singled with one out to load the bases, but a liner turned into an unassisted double play to end the inning.
Saint Francis led off the seventh with its first hit of the day, a soft liner down the right field line. Despite losing a no-hitter late in the game, Sleith remained poised and got a popup before striking out each of the next two hitters to end the game in style.
Show had her 15th career multi-hit game in the opening contest.
Although RMU coasted to the win in the opener, the nightcap would be a much tighter affair.
Saint Francis put on one runner with two outs in both the first and second innings, but those would be the only baserunners of the first two frames.
Gabelt led off the third with a sharp single into center, but, after a sacrifice moved the runner with two outs, a lineout ended the inning.
Saint Francis got a two-out infield single in the third, but junior Geena Badolato (Mt. Lebanon, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) got a looking strikeout to end the inning.
Stocks was absolutely robbed of a homer in the fourth as the Red Flash centerfielder made a great catch, practically falling over the fence in center. However, Jimenez followed by drilling the very next pitch to left center, and Saint Francis had no chance at that one, as the senior's homer gave RMU the lead. Apke then nailed a double on the next pitch but would be left on base.
Saint Francis tied the game in the bottom half with an unearned run. After a pair of singles by the hosts, a Colonial miscue helped the Red Flash even the proceedings.
Gabelt and Grafton both singled to start the fifth, but the RMU offense would go quiet for the remainder of the frame.
Saint Francis took the lead in the bottom half with a one-out single followed by a double off the base of the fence in left on the 12th pitch of the at bat. Sleith then got consecutive strikeouts to minimize the damage.
Each team went down in order in the sixth, a far cry from the seventh inning.
Santillo started the game-winning rally by hitting a hard grounder fair down the left field line. After Gabelt sacrificed the runner to second, Grafton hit a liner that short-hopped the shortstop and bounced slightly away, allowing the senior to reach. Show then followed by knocking a single by the shortstop into shallow left center to score pinch-runner Chelsea Evans (Beaver Falls, Pa. / Riverside). After the inning's second out, Hackett walked to load the bases. After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Stocks took a ball and then drilled a pitch on a line over the fence in left center for the biggest hit of the day. Jimenez tried to get things restarted with a single, but that would be it for RMU.
Saint Francis did all it could to come back in the home half and made things quite nerve-wracking for the Colonial faithful in attendance. A pinch-hit double with one out was followed by an infield single, but a strikeout would then serve as the second out of the inning. The Red Flash continued to battle, though, and, after a walk loaded the bases, a sharp single into center scored a pair of runs. Another walk reloaded the bases and put the winning run on base, but the next batter popped the first pitch up almost right behind the plate, and Santillo squeezed the ball in her mitt for the final out.
Apke, who had her eighth multi-hit game of the season and the 17th of her career in the opener, is now riding an 11-game hitting streak, the longest by a Colonial in 2013.
Gabelt posted her fourth multi-hit game of the season in the nightcap.
The nightcap represented the first time in the Colonials' last 19 conference contests in which they allowed more than two earned runs in a game.
RMU will continue with league play this coming weekend. Robert Morris will next be in action Saturday, April 20, when it hosts LIU Brooklyn in a NEC doubleheader.
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RMU's games at Canisius originally scheduled for April 16 were cancelled due to a lack of a mutual make-up date once the Colonials were forced to play conference make-up games today.
