The SHU softball team won the opening game of the Seton Hall Pirate Classic 12-2 over Lafayette, needing just six innings to put away the Leopards Friday morning.  Nicole Sidor (West Vancouver, BC) struck out ten batters as the sophomore pitcher picked up her first win of 2011.  The Pioneers blew open the game in the top of the sixth, sending 13 batters to the plate and pushing across seven runs on seven hits.

Sacred Heart (7-7) scored the first marker of the game in the second inning as a Leopard fielding error allowed Sidor to scamper home to make it 1-0 early.  The Pioneers extended the lead in the third as Courtney Lee (Camarillo, CA) ripped a one out double, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored with a steal of home.  SHU plated three more runs in its next at-bat as Taylor Froelich (Garden Grove, CA) launched a two-run homer, her third long ball of the year, as Alyssa Garza (Santa Clarita, CA) also came around to score.  Later in the frame Liz Tsipouras (Simi Valley, CA) made it a 5-0 affair with an infield single that drove in Erin McAndrews (Marblehead, MA), who drew a walk in a pinch-hit appearance.

Lafayette (0-11) managed just three hits over the first five innings and did not have a base runner reach third until the seventh.  The Pioneers started their big sixth inning with a Froelich double and a Jade Bowins (Frederick, MD) walk followed by a successful double steal.  Lee worked a walk to load the bases and Tsipouras picked up two RBI's with a single through the middle.  Annie Dreher (Saugus, CA) then singled to load the bases again and senior Shannon McCoy (Yorba Linda, CA) drew a walk to pick up a RBI and make it 8-0, SHU.  The Pioneer bats stayed hot in the inning as Sidor, Garza, and Bowins all drove in runs as Sacred Heart built a 12-0 advantage.

The Leopards were able to plate a pair of runs in the last of the sixth but Bowins hauled-in a foul ball down the left field line to record the final out of the inning and end the game 12-2 via the run-rule.  The victory is the first Pioneer game this season to not go a full seven innings.

Sacred Heart returns to action for the second game of the Pirate classic later Friday afternoon in a 2:00 pm clash with host Seton Hall.

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