Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Holy Cross
Late Rally Denies Army Sweep Of HC Series
April 28, 2014 | Softball
April 28, 2014
WORCESTER, Mass. - Emily Jarvis' walk-off three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning rallied Holy Cross to a 4-2 win over Army in the rubber game of the Patriot League series Monday afternoon at Freshman Field as the Crusaders wrapped up the three-game series with their lone win after being shut out twice on Sunday.
The Black Knights, who clinched a playoff berth with Sunday's doubleheader sweep, stand 22-23 overall and tied with Bucknell for third place in the league standings with a 9-6 mark. Preseason favorite Lehigh (12-3) and newest member Boston University (11-4) are ranked first and second in the league standings, respectively.
The four teams will be vying for playoff seeding this weekend as well as host site. Lehigh, with a one-game lead over Boston University in the battle for the regular-season title and hosting duties, travels to West Point for a pivotal three-game set against Army (May 3-4), and the Terries host Bucknell. If Boston University and Lehigh finish the regular-season tied, the Terriers win the tiebreaker having taken two of the three-game series from the Mountain Hawks.
Carrying a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh in the series finale with Holy Cross, Army lost on its third straight shutout bid as the Crusaders rallied with four runs in their final at bat. Freshman starter Kristen West, who had scattered four hits and did not issue a walk over six innings, was touched for a pair of hits and two walk with Jarvis' three-run homer capping that upraising.
Senior Amanda Nguyen's RBI triple, her third of the season, knocked in Savanna Aversa, who singled, for the first run in the top of the third inning in opening the scoring for Army. Nguyen was stranded at third as starter Gennifer Durham induced the next two batters on a groundout and infield popup.
The Black Knights built their lead to 2-0 with a run in the fourth inning on Alex Gaff's two-out single driving in Kasey McCraveywho led off that frame with a hit, stole second and advanced to third on a fielder's choice.
Durham, touched for five hits and two runs along with stranding three runners over the first five innings, gave way to Julia Barrett who held Army to one hit and a walk over the final two innings. The Black Knights reached second base in the sixth, but Barrett (7-6) struck out the next batter and retired the side in the seventh with Jarvis' home run in the bottom half making a winner out of her.
Army hosts Albany in a non-league doubleheader Wednesday with first pitch at 3:30 p.m. The Black Knights close out their regular-season slate taking on Lehigh Saturday and Sunday in what could be a rematch of last year's championship round when Army clinched the tournament title with a pair of shutout wins over the top-seeded Mountain Hawks.
Live stats for Army's final five home games will be offered at www.goARMYsports.com and frequent Twitter updates will be made to @Army_WSoftball. In addition, an audio and video stream will be offered through the Knight Vision subscription package at www.goARMYsports.com.
