STORRS, Conn. – The UConn softball team fell to the St. John’s Red Storm in extra innings, 6-5 on Sunday afternoon at Burrill Family Field. UConn finishes the regular season with a 32-17 record, locking up the No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament with a 18-6 conference record. 

Graduate student Payton Kinney made her 23^rd start of the season in the circle for the Huskies in the regular season finale. Kinney went 6.0 innings giving up five runs on just three hits, adding a pair of strikeouts. 

The game was a pitcher’s duel through the first three innings as St. John’s recorded the game’s first hit in the third inning. 

St. John’s opened the scoring in the fourth inning with a grand slam, giving the Red Storm a 4-0 lead. 

UConn began to chip away at the Johnnies lead, scoring a run in the bottom half of the fourth inning off the bat of freshman infielder Cat Petteys, as the rookie hit a solo home run to center field, her 12^th homer of the season, making it 4-1.  

Redshirt-sophomore Sydnee Koosh came on in relief for Kinney in the fifth inning, making her 25^thappearance of the season. Koosh went 2.0 innings giving up one run on three hits with a strikeout. 

St. John’s added a run in the top of the fifth inning, extending the deficit to four runs once again, 5-1.

UConn slashed into the deficit with one swing in the bottom of the sixth inning as senior infielder Rosie Garcia delivered a three-run home run, her fifth of the season, making it a one run ballgame, 5-4. 

Kinney re-entered the circle in the middle of the seventh inning, relieving Koosh. Kinney went on to close out the game on the mound for the Huskies. 

Junior catcher Grace Jenkins once again came up clutch for the Huskies, delivering a game-tying home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Down to their final out, Jenkins hit a no doubter to left center for her team leading 19^th homer of the season, sending the game to extra innings. 

St. John’s once again re-captured the lead in the top of the eighth inning, 6-5. 

UConn continued to fight, as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning but could not find a key hit to send the game to a ninth inning. 

News and Notes

• Cat Petteys homered in back to back games for the third time this season. 
• Grace Jenkins extended her on base streak to 27 straight games. 
• Rosie Garcia recorded her 16^th multi-hit and 10^th multi-RBI games this season. 
• Haley Coupal recorded her 8^th multi-hit game this season. 
• All five of UConn’s runs came from homers. 
• UConn turned two double plays, giving the Huskies 16 this season.

Up Next

UConn heads to the BIG EAST Tournament next week, hosted by Villanova as the No. 2 seed. The Huskies will play on Thursday, May 8 against the winner of the Villanova vs. Providence opening round game. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00pm. 

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The House Settlement is still needing a few changes before it could be passed by the case’s judge in California. One of those key ones could apparently soon be completed by the powers that be per the latest reporting on Sunday.

According to sources speaking to Ross Dellenger at Yahoo Sports, the NCAA and the power leagues in it are working towards grandfathering-in roster spots as the biggest hang up right now before the approval of the settlement. This could make way for the passing of it in time for the deadline of Wednesday this upcoming week.

“The NCAA and power conferences continue to take steps toward permitting schools – at their discretion – to grandfather-in roster spots, sources tell @YahooSports,” Dellenger tweeted this evening as an update to a story last week. “They recently shared such plans with plaintiff lawyers and objectors.”

“During meetings this week among NCAA and power conference executives and attorneys, a proposal to phase-in the new roster limits has emerged, multiple sources tell Yahoo Sports. However, no plan has been finalized as leaders work to find the solution to a judge’s order last week to protect athletes on existing rosters and assure the approval of the settlement — an agreement expected to usher in revenue sharing with athletes,” wrote Dellenger in that article on Tuesday. “Such a move — the grandfathering-in of roster positions — comes with a bevy of questions, concerns and uncertainties.”

This comes after roster sizes had shrunk over the course of this school year in preparation of the House Settlement. Those decisions, along with ones related to budgeting, were since deemed as “premature” by Claudia Wilken, the judge in this case, despite her approving the settlement in a preliminary fashion back in the fall with leagues and programs working from there to prepare the players whose spots would no longer be there post-settlement by July 1st. However, Wilken ruled two weeks ago that she would not pass the settlement unless those roster spots were phased back or grandfathered in as part of it.

It’s unclear what exactly would be presented or how it would be given to Judge Wilkens on Wednesday. Per Dellenger, though, they’re moving in the direction of schools handling grandfathering-in those spots “at their discretion”.

“The current belief among multiple college administrators is that the brief will permit schools, at their own discretion, to protect or grandfather-in any current player on a roster and those cut this year due to roster limits,” Dellenger wrote. “A school would be expected to track their protected roster spots with a rolling list of exceptions. Those protected athletes would presumably roll off the exception list as their eligibility expires.”

There’s much to determine still of how this change is worded and possibly implemented pending approval from the court. Teams could soon be undoing the roster changes they made in planning ahead, though, based on this trending that way going into this week’s deadline.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 16 West Virginia University baseball team shut out Texas Tech, 5-0, Sunday afternoon at Kendrick Family Ballpark to claim the series. The Mountaineers improve to 39-7 overall and 18-4 in the Big 12 while the Red Raiders fall to 16-28 and 11-13 in conference play.
 
Graduate student Jack Kartsonas tossed 7.0 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts while walking none, improving to 6-1 on the season. Junior Carson Estridge closed out the game with three strikeouts in two scoreless innings of work.
 
Senior Kyle West had two hits, including his 50^th collegiate home run. Senior Brodie Kresser drove in two runs while senior Grant Hussey drove in one.
 
The game remained scoreless until WVU put three runs on the board in the fourth, all coming with two outs. Kresser banged a double off the left-field wall to drive in two before coming around to score on a single by Hussey.
 
In the seventh, West crushed a two-run home run onto the roof of the new Biomechanics and Performance Center in right-center field.
 
Kartsonas and Estridge handled the rest as Texas Tech had a runner as far as third base just once during the game.
 
The Mountaineers will be back on Tuesday for the second edition of the Backyard Brawl this season. First pitch from Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh is set for 6 p.m.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
 
 

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State wrapped up a Big 12 series sweep against UCF with a 10-6 win Sunday afternoon at O’Brate Stadium.
 
The win was OSU’s second Big 12 series sweep of the season as the Cowboys improved to 10-11 in conference play and 22-21 overall. UCF fell to 24-23 and 6-18 in the league.
 
The offensive effort was led by the trio of Colin Brueggemann, Jayson Jones and Brock Thompson. Each homered and combined to drive in nine of the 10 Cowboy runs.
 
Sean Youngerman made his fourth start of the season for the Cowboys, pitching five innings and striking out six while allowing two runs, one earned. The right-hander earned the win, moving him to 3-1 on the season and bringing his season ERA to 1.99.
 
Matthew Brown recorded the final two outs of the game, working out of a bases-loaded jam, to pick up the first save of his collegiate career.
 
Youngerman was dominant in the second inning, striking out the side, and the Cowboys’ bats followed suit with a two-out rally in the bottom of the frame.
 
Kollin Ritchie got things started by reaching on an error, and Beau Sylvester followed with a walk. Thompson then came to the dish and battled his way to a full count, fouling off five pitches in the process. On the 10^th pitch of the at-bat, the freshman lifted a ball into the visitor’s bullpen for his third home run of the series to give the Cowboys a 3-0 lead.
 
The Pokes had another loud inning in the third, starting with a Nolan Schubart one-out walk. Brueggemann then deposited a ball into the right-field bleachers, extending the lead to 5-0. Up next, Jones matched Brueggemann with a deep shot over the left center-field bleachers, with the back-to-back homers pushing the lead to six.
 
Youngerman got into some trouble in the fourth inning as UCF loaded the bases with one out. He induced a ground ball to shortstop, but an errant throw to first allowed two runs to score to make it a 6-2 game.
 
OSU got those runs back and then some in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with nobody out. The third inning culprits, Brueggemann and Jones each had RBI singles, with Brueggemann driving in a pair. Ritchie joined the action with an RBI single to right field to make it 10-2.
 
Hunter Watkins took over for Youngerman in the sixth inning and pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, one of them earned. The Knights scored three runs in the eighth, making it a 10-5 game, but Brennan Phillips came in and retired the final two batters to escape further damage.
 
Brown inherited the bases loaded with one out in the top of the ninth and hit the first batter he faced to make it a 10-6 game. But the freshman then induced Braden Calise to ground into a game-ending double play to secure the win.
 
Up next, the Cowboys travel to Waco, Texas, for a Big 12 series against Baylor. First pitch for Friday’s opener is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.