Stephanie Pasquale stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh knowing she had to start the inning well.
The Owls trailed 1-0 to St. Francis (15-10) with just three outs left to make a comeback. They needed to make a run.
The junior catcher delivered, knocking the ball over the center field fence. Tie ballgame.
Suddenly Temple (9-14, 1-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference) had momentum, and used it on its way to a 10-4 victory. Freshman second baseman Leah Lucas hit a single and junior third baseman Devynne Nelons advanced the runner with a bunt.
With one out freshman Gina Pellechio—pinch-running for Lucas—reached third on a passed ball. Senior designated hitter Kayla Cook had one job to do, get the runner home.
And that’s exactly what she did with a sac fly to right field.
After being held silent through six innings Temple did just enough to walk away with a two-game sweep, getting their only two hits of the game in the final inning.
“That homerun was unbelievable,” junior pitcher Brooklin White said. “If it wasn’t for their pitcher we would have dominated the second game too.”
Freshman Jessica Tolmie went the distance for the Owls, allowing an unearned run in the third on four hits while walking two and striking out five. It was likely a performance that coach Joe DiPietro wanted while looking to find his No. 2 starter behind freshman Kelsey Dominik.
The first half of the twin bill was a completely different story. Lucas smacked a single up the middle to drive in the first run, opening up the floodgates.
An inning later sophomore centerfielder Ali Robinson crushed her second grand slam in two days, giving Temple an insurmountable 5-0 lead. The Red Flash scored three unanswered runs in the fifth and sixth to draw with two but Robinson sent another bomb over the center field fence for her third grand slam of the weekend.
“We kind of held on to [that first grand slam],” White said. “We didn’t really push for more until Ali hit her second grand slam. I think we were kind of a little lackadaisical coming off of yesterday because we were tired.”
When all was said and done the Owls walked away with a 10-4 victory.
Robinson was 2-for-4 on the day with eight RBIs. Freshman leftfielder Annie Marcopolus set the tone in the leadoff spot despite going 0-for-2 at the plate. She walked twice, scoring three runs in the process.
And with the pitching still an issue White attempted to make her case for the second slot in the staff with a complete game, six-hit performance. She struck out three while walking four.
“I got off my track a little bit towards the end of the game,” White said. “Thankfully we had enough runs and we got the win.”
The Sunday sweep gives the Owls their first three-game winning streak of the season. Since returning from their tournament season they are 3-1 in Philadelphia, including 2-0 at Ambler. Temple stays put for the next six games beginning with another double-header against Delaware State Tuesday.
First pitch for the opening game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Jake Adams can be reached at jacob.adams@temple.edu or on Twitter @jakeadams520.
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