Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
St. Peter's
Softball Sweeps A Non-League Twinbill From St. Peter's
April 08, 2011 | Softball
Game 1 Boxscore
Game 2 Boxscore
ST. PETER'S, N.J. - Freshman Haley Pypes, who homered in both games, drove in three runs helping her cause in recording the win in the first game, and classmate Marina Northup pitched a nifty one-hitter and struck out five in the nightcap as Army swept a doubleheader from St. Peter's Thursday afternoon at Jaroschak Field. The Black Knights won the first game 10-2 in six innings and shut out the Peahens 10-0 in a five-inning nightcap decision.
Pypes yielded five hits, walked two and fanned six batters and went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in and two runs scored as Army collected 14 hits in defeating St. Peter's in the first game of the non-league twinbill.
The Black Knights jumped out to a 4-0 lead on four hits (three of those doubles) in the top of the first inning. Leadoff batter Amanda Nguyen reached on an error, stole second and scored on April Ortenzo's double up the middle. Following back-to-back flyouts to right field, Army collected three more hits starting with back-to-back RBI doubles by Alex Reynolds and Rachel Duval. Pypes' RBI single down the left field line delivered Duval, who was 4-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored, for the fourth run.
After leaving runners in scoring position in the second and fourth innings, the Black Knights exploded for six runs (three each) over the next two frames. Pypes drove in a run and scored in both the fourth and fifth innings. She singled home Reynolds for the first run in the fifth and crossed on Ortenzo's sacrifice fly to left field. Nguyen's single drove in Duval for the second run as Army scored three times on four hits in that frame.
The Black Knights made use of the long ball in the sixth inning on back-to-back home runs off the bats of Duval and Pypes with one out. Duval delivered Alexis AuBuchon, who hit a leadoff double up the middle, with her third home run of the season, and Pypes followed with her team-leading fourth round tripper on a solo blast up the middle.
After being touched for a run in the bottom of the first inning on Shelby Beaver's two-out double, Pypes (7-5) did not allow St. Peter's into scoring position until they sixth inning when they scored an unearned run. With two outs and bases loaded, she retired the side on a strikeout swinging for her sixth of the game, which is one shy of her season high.
AuBuchon's double is her eighth of the season and career 35th, which ranks fourth on Army's all-time chart. Duval's home run is her career 14th, moving into a fourth place tie on the all-time list and one shy of third place, held by former teammate Erin McClain (2007-10).
Army's 14 hits is just one shy of its season-high 15 recorded against Houston Baptist early in the season with Duval (4-for-4 with 3 RBI), Pypes (3-for-4 with 3 RBI) and Ortenzo (2-for-3 with two RBI) recording multiple hits and multiple RBIs.
The Black Knights scored multiple runs in the third through fifth innings to force the nightcap to be called on the mercy rule with AuBuchon going 2-for 3 with three RBI along with a pair of RBIs by Pypes and Northup.
Army took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third with Northup delivering Nguyen, who led off with a bunt single, from second base and moved into scoring position on the throw home. AuBuchon knocked in Northup with a single, the third in that inning. The Black Knights added three more runs on three hits in the fourth on RBI singles by Reanna Johnson and Jessica Garcia with Northup's bases-loaded walk delivering the third run.
A five-run fifth-inning explosion, keyed by Pypes' two-run homer and AuBuchon's two-run single, put the game away.
Northup, who recorded five strikeouts along with a walk in pitching a one-hitter, only once allowed St. Peter's into scoring position. After retiring nine of the first 10 batters she faced, the freshman left-hander was touched for her lone hit in the fourth inning on a single by Kristin Kaneyuki. After the next batter reached on an error, a fielder's choice and strikeout ended that threat. Northup retired the side in the fifth in recording her second shutout of the season and Army's seventh in improving to 2-2.
The Black Knights recorded 10 hits in the nightcap with Pypes and Aubuchon collecting two hits each and driving in three and two runs, respectively. Duval and Pypes batted .714 in the doubleheader as both collected five hits in seven at-bats. Duval scored five runs and drove in three runs and Pypes scored four times and drove in five runs. Orentzo batted .500 going 3-for-6 with three runs batted in and two runs scored.
Army heads to Holy Cross this weekend for a key four-game Patriot League series with the Crusades. Holy Cross is tied with Colgate for first place in the standings with a 4-0 mark fter sweeping Lafayette last weekend.
