DePaul Overpowers St. John’s in BIG EAST Opener

Saturday, March 13

Queens, N.Y.

11:00 A.M. CT

DePaul University

8-7, 0

St. John's

3-3, 0

DePaul Blue Demons

St. John's

DePaul Overpowers St. John’s in BIG EAST Opener

3/13/2021 1:11:00 PM | SOFTBALL

Box Score

Blue Demons top Red Storm, 8-0 in six innings

QUEENS, N.Y. – DePaul softball got on the board in the first inning and never looked back in an 8-0 rout of St. John's in six innings in game one of Saturday's doubleheader at Red Storm field.

Seniors Kate Polucha and Maranda Gutierrez each recorded three RBI's on the outing, while classmate Krista Dalgarn kept the Red Storm off the board while throwing six strikeouts and only allowing one walk and four hits.

The first inning saw a Gutierrez draw a walk followed by a Polucha base knock to center field. At the ensuing at bat, Jessica Cothern popped up right in front of the catcher, but a fielding error by the Red Storm allowed Gutierrez to score and give the Blue Demons an early 1-0 lead.

DePaul (8-7, 1-0 BIG EAST) poured on three more runs in the top of the third to make it a 4-0 advantage. Scalzitti and Gutierrez each took a base after being hit by a pitch. The next at bat saw Polucha come to the plate and blast a three-run homer to center, her third of the season. Cothern and Brooke Johnson drew walks, but nothing materialized for the Blue Demons.

In the fourth inning, Pearl Barroso reached base on a walk followed by a Skylor Hilger single. Gutierrez brought her teammates across thanks to a two-out, two-run RBI triple to extend the lead to 6-0.

Tori Meyer joined in on the offensive spark for DePaul with a solo shot over the left center wall to put DePaul on top, 7-0.

Scalzitti tallied her first hit of the afternoon in the bottom of the sixth inning with a double to left field. Gutierrez drove Scalzitti cross with her second hit of the day over the head of the St. John's (3-3, 0-1 BIG EAST) shortstop to give DePaul an 8-0 advantage.

Dalgarn allowed just one hit in the bottom of the sixth before a 6-4-3 double play secured the victory for DePaul. The senior moved to 5-1 in the circle and threw her first shutout of the season.

DePaul and St. John's will resume action for game two of Saturday's doubleheader at approximately 1:30 p.m. CT.