Smith & West Gun Down Holy Cross Sunday

Sunday, March 29

West Point, N.Y.

1:00 PM

Army West Point

11-15, 2-0

Holy Cross

1-6, 0-2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Holy Cross Crusaders	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	6	2
Army West Point	0	0	0	4	0	1	X	5	8	0

Smith & West Gun Down Holy Cross Sunday

March 29, 2015 | Softball

Box Score

March 29, 2015

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army's softball team completed its three-game series sweep of Holy Cross Sunday as the Black Knights took both ends of a Patriot League doubleheader from the Crusaders at the Army Softball Complex in their conference debut.

Kasey McCravey homered, doubled and drove in five runs going 3-for-4, and Caroline Smith scattered six hits in Army's 5-2 defeat of Holy Cross in the opening game.

Kristen West went the distance on a three hitter, struck out three and did not walk a batter, as Army cruised to a 7-1 victory in the nightcap after jumping out to an early 4-0 lead to close out the three-game sweep after the Black Knights won the first game of the series (2-1 in 12 innings) Saturday afternoon.

McCravey smacked a grand slam home run over the fence in left field in the bottom of the fourth inning in the opener that snapped a scoreless deadlock for a 4-0 lead after capitalizing on three hits and a walk in that inning.

Alyssa Strobehn led off with a walk followed by back-to-back singles by Alex Gaff and Gladys Esparza-Gallegos to load that bases in setting the stage for McCravey who took a 1-1 offering from Katy Watson (1-2) in ripping her fifth home run of the season. McCravey finished the game with three hits to include a pair of doubles.

Holy Cross, held to just two hits over the first five innings, collected three off Smith in the top of the sixth that cut Army's lead in half as the Crusaders drew to 4-2 on Becky Geddes' two-run single. Smith, who hurled Army to its first two wins over Holy Cross, retired four of the next five batters she faced to put the game away.

McCravey, who had a hand in all five runs, knocked in SJ Aversa, who reached on a fielder's choice, for an insurance run with her two-out double in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 5-2 lead in closing out the scoring.

Army collected eight hits off Watson led by McCravey's three along with a pair by Esparza-Gallegos. Smith, picking up her fourth win of the week, improved to 5-8.

In the nightcap, Army staked West to an early lead scoring runs in three of the first four innings to pull out to a 6-0 advantage. Xiomara Perez doubled home Alee Rashenskas, who led off the second inning with a single and was sacrificed to second, to put Army up 1-0.

Army stretched its lead to 4-0 following a three-run third behind run scoring singles by Kristen McPeek, Rashenskas and Alex Gaff. Esperza-Gallegos keyed a two-run fourth with an RBI hit knocking in McCravey and crossing herself on Emily Gray's run-scoring single as the Black Knights pulled ahead 6-0.

West kept Holy Cross in check scattering one hit over the first five innings before being touched for her second hit of the game with one out in the top of the sixth, but retired the next two batters to nip that rally.

After Army padded its lead to 7-0 on Rashenskas' run-scoring double chasing home McPeek in the home half of the sixth, the Black Knights lost out on their shutout in the seventh on an unearned run after the leadoff batter reached on an error.

The Black Knights, who have won their last five games, host league rival Colgate in a three-game series Wednesday-Thursday (April 1-2) before heading to the road to visit Lafayette Easter weekend.

DIAMOND NOTES: Army went 5-0 this week ... the Black Knights batted .325 with Alee Rashenskas and Kristen McPeek both hitting .450 with nine hits ... McPeek drove in six runs, Rashenskas three ... Kasey McCravey hit .421 with nine RBI, five runs scored for a slugging percentage of .895 ... pitcher Caroline Smith went 4-0 with a 1.38 ERA ... Army posted a team 1.75 ERA ... in Patriot League action, Rashenskas batted .583 (7-for-12) with two RBI and two runs scored ... Gladys Esparza-Gallegos hit .571 (4-for-7) with an RBI and three runs scored .. McCravey had five RBI batting .385 (5-for-13) with two runs scored. ... Army batted .327 in its three-game sweep of Holy Cross and posted a 0.81 ERA.