HOUGHTON, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher softball team began Empire 8 Conference play with 6-0 and 13-1 victories over Houghton in a road doubleheader on Wednesday, improving to 11-7 overall.
Game 1: St. John Fisher 6, Houghton 0
Timely hitting and a dominant pitching performance from junior Molly Kuhn led the Cardinals to a shutout victory over the Highlanders in the first game of the twin bill.
Kuhn was nearly perfect in the circle, facing 23 batters and only allowing two hits in the complete seven innings. She struck out a career-high eight batters and didn't walk any.
The Cardinals capitalized on Houghton's defensive mistakes early, as senior catcher Isabella Mahar followed a Highlander error with an RBI single, driving in junior infielder Taylor Shackleton in the first. In the top of the second inning, after sophomore infielder Maddy Schubach reached on an error, senior outfielder Gracie Curella ripped an RBI double to make it 2-0.
Freshman infielder Sarah Gross reached on the third Houghton error of the game with two outs in the top half of the fourth. Junior infielder Taylor Shackleton, the next batter, made the Highlanders pay with a two-run home run to extend the Cardinals' lead to 4-0.
Fisher tacked on another run in the fifth on an RBI groundout by senior infielder Madi Rose and capped the scoring in the seventh on an RBI single by freshman Ayla Terpening.
Game Notes
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In three of her last four outings, Kuhn has allowed three or fewer runs with at least five strikeouts.
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The complete game shutout marked Kuhn's third of the season.
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Kuhn improved her team-best pitching record to 6-3.
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Shackleton has three home runs in Fisher's first 17 games. She hit five homers all of last season, in which she started 43 games.
Game 2: St. John Fisher 13, Houghton 1 (5 innings)
The Cardinals' offense took center stage in Game 2, as they scored 13 runs on 17 hits. They did their scoring in bunches, breaking the game open with a five-run second and a seven-run third.
Gross got the scoring started in the second with a two-run double, and Shackleton kept her hot hitting going with a two-RBI double of her own. After a Houghton pitching change, junior outfielder Emily McManus made the score 5-0 with a run-scoring single.
In the third, Shackleton, Schubach, sophomore Julia Hollister, junior CC Holmes and senior Leah Fron collected RBI hits for the Cardinals. An error and a passed ball by the Houghton defense allowed two more runs to score as Fisher's lead ballooned to 12-0.
After a Houghton RBI double in the bottom of the fourth, Terpening scored on another Houghton error in the fifth to push the contest to its final score of 13-1.
Senior Hallie Lorimer got the win in the pitching circle for the Cardinals, tossing four innings, allowing only one earned run, scattering three hits and three walks, and striking out three. Terpening finished out the game for Fisher with a scoreless fifth.
Game Notes
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The Cardinals have won their last 28 games against Houghton, averaging nearly 10 runs per game.
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McManus recorded her seventh multi-hit game of the season, finishing 3-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
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Shackleton recorded her third 3-RBI game of the season.
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Gross had three hits, including a pair of doubles.
Up Next
The Cardinals continue Empire 8 play at home with a doubleheader against Russell Sage on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
