The St. John’s softball team is set to begin its BIG EAST schedule this weekend, facing UConn in a three-game series that has been moved to Columbia University’s Baker Athletics Complex due to field conditions at Red Storm Field.
The teams will play a doubleheader on Sunday at noon and 2:30 p.m., with the final game scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m. All games will be available via live stream on the St. John’s Red Storm YouTube channel.
St. John’s, holding a 14-6 overall record, recently participated in the Battle at the Max tournament in Greenville, North Carolina. The team secured two wins against Campbell, including a walk-off victory that extended their neutral-site winning streak to 13 games before losing to Rider.
In their opening win over Campbell, Cassidy Stouffer contributed three hits and three RBIs while Natasha Limbani added a two-run double. Loreley Francia was credited with the win as pitcher, and Ana Serafinko finished the game with five strikeouts across 2.1 innings.
The following day saw Sarah Post deliver a walk-off single for a 3-2 win over Campbell. Jess Bianco reached base twice, stole two bases, and scored the tying run; Serafinko pitched a complete game with ten strikeouts.
Despite falling to Rider later in the tournament, St. John’s managed six runs in one inning—its second-highest scoring frame of the season—with key hits from Bianco, Stouffer, Limbani, and Madison Konopka’s two-run triple.
After her performances during the tournament—including a 1-1 record with a 1.83 ERA and 22 strikeouts in three appearances—Serafinko was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on March 2. She also went three-for-five at bat and scored once during those games.
Serafinko currently ranks second among NCAA Division I players for total strikeouts (98) and seventh nationally for innings pitched (66.2). With 570 career strikeouts so far, she is just twenty away from surpassing Tori Free’s program record of 589.
Led by pitchers Serafinko and Francia, St. John’s staff ranks eleventh nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (7.77), thirty-seventh in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.45), and forty-fourth in team ERA (3.07).
On offense, Bianco leads with a .435 batting average along with thirty hits and sixteen RBIs; Limbani has also driven in sixteen runs with three home runs this season.
London Slade has maintained an average of .359 without striking out this year—a distinction shared by only eighteen other qualifying NCAA Division I players nationwide.
UConn arrives after recent wins against Akron, Florida Gulf Coast, Liberty, and Charleston Southern—the latter by thirteen runs—and currently stands second in doubles among BIG EAST teams. Their offensive leaders include Savannah Ring (.345) and Cat Petteys (.317), while Kaitlyn Breslin tops their lineup with fourteen RBIs and four home runs.
Pitcher Jessica Walker holds UConn’s best strikeout-to-walk ratio within conference play alongside her 2.97 ERA across thirty-seven-plus innings pitched.
Last season’s series between these teams ended with St John’s taking two out of three games played May 2–4 in Connecticut; they have won four of their last six meetings against UConn within conference matchups.
Following this series against UConn at Columbia University’s facility, St John’s plans to return home for its next matchup versus Iona on March 12.
