Senior pitcher Jane Sallen made history this weekend.
The Seawolves ace threw the first two no-hitters of her career — the 12th and 13th in Stony Brook history — as the team swept UMass Lowell in the first two games of a three-game set this weekend by scores of 7-0, 6-3 and 10-0. Before Sallen’s dominance this weekend, no Stony Brook pitcher had thrown a no-hitter since Allie Cukrov had two during her freshman year in 2012.
In Saturday’s series opener, Sallen pitched the full seven innings without allowing a hit, walking five and striking out six and bringing her record on the season to 13-10.
It was the perhaps the most dominant performance of her collegiate career, though it was equaled in Sunday’s series finale.
In the Seawolves’ 10-0 victory, the senior pitched six innings, again allowing no hits. She joins Cukrov and former pitcher Stephanie Poetzsch as the only Stony Brook players to ever have two hitless shutouts in a season. Poetzsch completed the feat in 2001.
Combined with the series’ second game, in which Sallen earned the save in a relief appearance, she finished the series having allowed one hit in 15.1 innings pitched.
Sophomore Maddy Neales started in the circle for the Seawolves in game two, and she pitched well enough to set her team up to win. She threw 4.2 innings while giving up three runs, all unearned, on four hits. The second-year pitcher also struck out five and walked six.
The offense wasted no time giving Sallen run support in the first game. Senior outfielder Diane Caruso crushed her sixth home run of the season to score two in the top of the first inning, and senior first baseman Kim Ragazzo drove in sophomore third baseman Chelsea Evans three batters later. Sloppy defense by the River Hawks allowed the other four runs to score throughout the game, three of them unearned.
But it was Sallen who would secure the win for Stony Brook. She came into the game with two outs in the fifth inning and the bases loaded and was able to get the strikeout to end the inning. Sallen also worked out of a tough jam in the bottom of the seventh inning, when the River Hawks loaded the bases with nobody out, but she forced a double play and a groundout to escape the inning unscathed.
Senior catcher Allie Pisciotta had a fantastic weekend, going 8-for-11 with two walks and a pair of two runs batted in. She has been the team’s best hitter all season and her batting average is now up to .397 with five homers and 28 runs batted in.
Stony Brook, now undefeated in its last 10 games, will return to the diamond on Tuesday afternoon, when the team hosts Hofstra at 3:30 p.m.
