The Seton Hall softball team split its action at the North Texas Tournament on Saturday afternoon, winning 5-3 against Northwestern State to complete the sweep but losing, 14-2, to North Texas.
Darby Pandolfo drove in Janae Barracato to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a two-out double. Northwestern State’s Elise Vincent reached on a fielding error by Seton Hall and the Demons capitalized on this with a one-out RBI by E.C. Delafield to tie the game at one run apiece.
The Pirates answered back to retake the lead with two runs in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly by Barracato and an RBI single by Pandolfo for her second run of the game.
Mo Sobel got the start on the mound for the Pirates against Northwestern and tossed five innings and gave up three runs, two of which were unearned due to fielding errors. Kelsey Gumm took the ball from Sobel and kept the Lady Demons scoreless in the final two frames on the game and only allowed two hits.
Seton Hall added in two insurance runs in the fifth inning with a two-run homer by Payton Beaver.
The second game on the day against North Texas had a different tone for the Pirates, as they were outscored by 12 runs. Seton Hall was forced to end the game at the middle of the fifth inning due to the mercy rule which is invoked if a team is trailing by eight runs or more after five frames.
North Texas scored seven runs in the bottom of the first inning on a Seton Hall fielding error, two home runs and two RBI singles.
Reganne Camp started for the Pirates, but she was pulled in the first inning after giving up six runs and one walk. Camp did not record any innings pitched on the game.
Madison Strunk entered the game in relief for the Pirates, but she, too, struggled from the mound and surrendered six runs across two innings.
North Texas added two runs in the second inning and five runs in the fifth inning on home runs by Lacy Gregory and Jenna Goodrich.
The Pirates’ two runs on the game came in the fourth inning on a two-run homerun by Beaver to score Hailey Arteaga.
Seton Hall plays Arkansas Pine Bluff in the final game of the weekend tournament on Feb. 17 at 11 a.m.
Andrea Keppler can be reached at andrea.keppler@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @keppler_andrea.
