EAST BOSTON – Behind a 3-for-3 effort, with a pair of extra base hits, from Devlin Frost and stand up pitching from Ali Yamakaitis, the Suffolk softball team opened a two-game GNAC series with Saint Joseph (Conn.) with a 5-1 victory Friday morning at East Boston Memorial Park.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 5, Saint Joseph (Conn.) 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (26-7, 19-2 GNAC) | Saint Joseph (Conn.) (20-13, 12-7 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
With one out and Sydney Littlefield on first thanks to a perfectly placed base hit, which landed right over the Blue Jays shortstop's head and in between the visitor's outfielders, Frost rocked the ball to the deep right center fence. Suffolk's speed on the bags played in the blue-and-gold's favor as Littlefield rounded the bags to break open the scoring. Frost then came in on Jaclyn Flint's single to add to the Rams' margin, giving the hosts a 2-0 edge after one.
Three innings later, Madison Eucalitto went yard and scored Delaney Sylvesterand Ashley Zulla, who each singled, in the process to stretch Suffolk's advantage to 5-0 at the end of the fourth frame.
USJ erased the shutout in the seventh as Brianna Barfield drew a base-on-balls to lead off the inning, moved over on Morgan Skoly's sac bunt and scored on Amaria's Sharon's single down the left field line. Yamakaitis and the Rams secured the league triumph with a 13 ground out to end the inning and conference contest.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- Yamakaitis (8-3) tossed a game, allowing just one run on three hits and a pair of walks while striking out five hitters.
- Sharon (10-1), meanwhile, allowed five runs on 10 hits and fanned a trio of batters.
STATISTCALLY SPEAKING
- Frost's day featured one double and one triple as the senior centerfield brought in one run and scored one herself.
- Eucalitto's lone hit of the morning went over the fence to plate three runs and score one herself.
- Delaney Sylvester and Zulla each went 2-for-3 at the dish and scored one run apiece.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk defeated USJ in the second straight meeting to improve to 22-14 all-time versus the Blue Jays.
- The Rams defeated the Blue Jays in back-to-back meetings for the first time since the last meeting of the 2016 doubleheader, a 6-5 win April 23, 2016, and a 7-2 GNAC postseason win over USJ May 7, 2016.
- Frost tallied her first triple of the season and the 10th of her career, which matches the eighth most by a Ram, tying Brenna Burr (2003-06).
- Suffolk's 19 league victories mark the most in the Jaclyn Davis era and most since the Rams went 21-6 versus conference counterparts in 2006.
- Eucalitto sent a shot over the fence for the first time this season and second time in her career.
- Eucalitto's three RBI match a season-high for the senior.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk and USJ look to beat out the rain in game two coming up in Eastie.
