March 11, 2012

Box Score

Fort Myers, Fla. - Freshman Allison Cukrov (Irvine, Calif.) struck out a career-high 12 batters as the Stony Brook softball team earned its first-ever win over a Pac-10/12 opponent, defeating Utah, 1-0, in eight innings on Saturday night. The Seawolves have now won six straight heading into Sunday's action vs. Georgetown and Florida Gulf Coast.

Following a 9-4 win over Colgate in Saturday's opener, the Seawolves (9-3) took to the field Saturday night against a 17-4 Utah team that was receiving votes in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls. Motivated and certainly not intimidated, the team put forth a gutsy effort and came away with an historic result.

Stony Brook's freshman sensation and the reigning America East Pitcher of the Week, Cukrov dominated her Pac-12 opposition, recording at least one strikeout in all eight innings pitched. As per tournament rules, the extra innings were started with a runner on second base; however, Cukrov was undeterred. After a sac bunt moved the runner to third with one out in the 8th, Cukrov struck out consecutive batters to end the inning.

Stony Brook implemented the same strategy, electing to bunt its runner, junior Gina Bianculli (Oakdale, N.Y.), to third to open the frame. However, sophomore Nicole Schieferstein's (Seaford, N.Y.) sacrifice attempt was popped up and caught, forcing Bianculli to hold at second with one away. Utah pitcher Generra Nielson (12-4) then made a costly mistake, throwing a wild pitch to move Bianculli to third with sophomore Nicole Hagerty (Sicklerville, N.J.) at the dish. Needing only a fly ball to deliver Bianculli, Hagerty took Nielson's pitch and drove it into left field for the game-winning sacrifice fly.

The Seawolves outhit Utah, 5-3, in the game and received multi-hit performances from seniors Lauren Maloney (2-for-3) and Alyssa Hawley (2-for-2). All three of Utah's hits were singles as Cukrov put a cap on an offense that had averaged six runs a game entering Saturday. The freshman retired the first 10 batters of the game (six via strikeout) and walked only one. Cukrov now owns a 4-2 record with a 1.74 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 40.1 innings pitched this season.

Stony Brook, 4-0 thus far in Florida, will cap the weekend against Georgetown at 11:15 a.m. and tournament host Florida Gulf Coast at 3:45 p.m.