Hopke, Johns Help Billikens Secure A-10 Berth
May 4, 2008
Dayton, Ohio - Allison Hopke and Katie Johns combined to drive in seven of Saint Louis' nine runs to propel the Billikens to a 9-6 game-one victory at Atlantic 10 Conference foe Dayton (20-31, 7-13 A-10) on Sunday afternoon. The win was all SLU needed to qualify for their second straight A-10 Championship. The Bills (23-31-1, 11-9 A-10) also won the second game 4-1. Saint Louis got to work in the first inning of the opener. Dayton starter Erin Lafayette walked leadoff hitter Kristin Nicoletti to give the Billikens an immediate advantage. Nicoletti stole second base before Caitlin Trevillyan lined a single into left field to bring Nicoletti across for the 1-0 edge. The Bills added a second run on Allison Hopke's RBI double in the second. Katie Johns and Rachel O'Connell each walked to leadoff the fourth inning. Brittney Schmidt's second sac bunt of the game put both runners in scoring position with one out. Then Hopke came through with her second double of the game, driving in both Billikens for the 4-0 lead. In the fifth, Rachel Heet reached on a one-out bunt single. After stealing second base, Heet scored on Johns' single down the left-field line to put SLU up 5-0. Hopke stayed hot in the sixth inning, hitting a two-out single to left center. Hopke stole second and third base to get into scoring position. With Jody Herbert on first base after a free pass, the pair attempted the double steal. Dayton's catcher threw to the left side of second base but the Flyers' second baseman was unable to corral the throw as Hopke sneaked across to make it 6-0.
Blair Crabtree's two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth got the Dayton bats started. Consecutive singles and a two-base Billiken error allowed the Flyers to cut the margin to three at 6-3. UD scored a fourth run when Katie Jordan singled down the left-field line and catcher Nicki Jost was unable to hang on to Hopke's throw from left field. The Billikens got nearly all of those runs back in the seventh when Johns sent a three-run line drive over the fence in left field to push the lead back out to five runs at 9-4. Dayton scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh but it wasn't enough to catch up with Saint Louis. Lorena Floccari (7-13) picked up the victory after striking out six batters and giving up three runs, two earned in the first five innings. Lafayette (10-16) was saddled with the loss, striking out six, walking five and allowing seven runs. Johns, who went 2-for-3, tied the school record with four RBIs while Hopke was 3-for-3 with three RBIs. In the nightcap, Herbert started SLU's third-inning rally with a single to right field. With two outs and Nicoletti on second due to a fielder's choice and a stolen base, Heet singled up the middle to put runners on the corners. Jost drove in both Billikens with a double to left field. Then Johns added a double to right center to bring in Jost for the 3-0 advantage. In the fourth, back-to-back one-out singles by Trevillyan and Heet pushed the lead out to four runs. Dayton used three hits and a double steal in the bottom of the fifth to eke out a run, cutting the deficit to three at 4-1. The Flyers got consecutive singles to start the seventh, knocking starter Erin Kelly (10-5) out of the game. A sac bunt put both runners in scoring position before Floccari induced a pop out and struck out the final batter to earn the save. Kelly allowed eight hits while striking out three in the complete-game effort. Eva Rappe suffered the loss for the Flyers, giving up three runs on four hits, a walk and two strikeouts in the first 2-1/3 innings. Heet had two hits in the nightcap to lead the SLU offense while Jost scored and drove in two runs. |
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