The St. John’s softball team wrapped up its participation at the Battle at the Max tournament in Greenville, North Carolina, on Sunday. The Red Storm, now holding a 14-6 overall record, faced defeats against Rider University and East Carolina University at the Max R. Joyner Family Stadium.
In their game against Rider, St. John’s posted its strongest offensive performance in the fourth inning by scoring six runs. Key contributions came from Jess Bianco with a two-run single, Cassidy Stouffer with an RBI single, Natasha Limbani with a run-scoring single, and Madison Konopka who hit a two-run triple.
During their rematch with host East Carolina University (ECU), pitcher Ana Serafinko led the Red Storm’s efforts by throwing a complete game. She struck out seven batters and limited ECU to three hits. The team’s only run came after Avery Neuman drove in Serafinko in the top of the fourth inning.
Against Rider, St. John’s fell behind 6-0 but responded in the bottom of the first when Limbani hit a two-run home run to left field—her third homer of the season and currently leading the team in that category. Despite this effort, Rider added nine more runs before St. John’s staged its six-run rally in the fourth inning. This frame was highlighted by five hits from four different players and included three unearned runs before two outs were recorded.
The six-run inning was St. John’s second highest-scoring frame of this season and their most productive since they scored seven runs in one inning during an 8-5 win over LIU on February 13.
Limbani finished with three RBIs for the game, while Bianco and Konopka each contributed two RBIs.
In their matchup against East Carolina, Serafinko delivered one of her best performances this year by retiring six of ECU’s first seven batters and allowing only one hit through four innings. St. John’s took a brief lead in the fourth after Serafinko doubled to left field; Elanna Lysiak was hit by a pitch and Post walked to load the bases before Neuman brought home a run on an RBI fielder’s choice.
St. John’s continued to threaten offensively later in the game but could not score again as ECU closed out for a 2-1 victory.
Serafinko completed her outing with seven strikeouts over seven innings pitched while giving up only three hits.
With play concluded in North Carolina, St. John’s will return home to face Wagner on March 4 for its first home contest of the 2026 season at Red Storm Field.
