HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - Three different players hit homeruns and every Red Storm batter got at least one hit as the St. John's University softball team swept the Marist College Red Foxes by counts of 5-1 and 9-3 Thursday afternoon in a non-conference doubleheader at Mitchel Field. With the sweep, the Red Storm improve to 26-23 overall, while Marist falls to 13-16-1. St. John's has now won five games in a row and nine of its last 10.

In the first game of the doubleheader, junior Marilyn Brown smoked a two-run homerun over the left-center field fence in the bottom of the fifth inning to power the Red Storm to a 5-1 victory. Earlier in the bottom of the third, juniors Ann Raab and Lisa Tropea each knocked in runs to give the Red Storm a 2-0 lead. Marist got one back in the top of the fourth on a solo homerun by Bobbi Jo Gonello. The Red Storm extended their lead to 3-1 in their half of the fourth inning on an RBI-double by Alesha Argeras. In the next inning, Brown made up for stranding three baserunners in her two previous at-bats with the her third homerun of the season to make it 5-1 SJU. Sophomore Courtney Fitzgerald pitched another beauty, giving up just two hits, one being the solo homerun, to earn her 14th victory of the season. She struck out five and walked one in seven innings of work.

In the nightcap, five Red Storm batters collected at least two hits as St. John's pounded the Red Foxes for nine runs on 13 hits. After Marist took the early 1-0 lead on a solo homerun by Kara Lacey in the top of the second inning, the Red Storm rallied for three runs in the bottom of the third, partially due to three Red Fox errors. After Melissa Tucci drove in a run with an RBI double in the top of the fourth to trim the lead to 3-2, the Red Storm plated two more runs to extend their lead to 5-2. The Red Storm added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth via the long ball. Argeras and Tropea hit back-to-back homeruns to push the Red Storm lead to 8-2. Kathleen McVeily drove in the Red Foxes third run of the game on a bloop-single into right field, but the Red Storm got that run back in the bottom of the sixth on a groundout by Jessica Shepherd, which scored Lauren Fisher from third. Gina Calabrese picked up the win, her 12th of the season. She allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out five and walking one. On the day, Argeras was 4-for-7 with 3 RBI, Tropea was 2-for-7 with two RBI and Brown had three hits and two RBI.

The Red Storm return to action on Saturday April 21 when they travel to Piscataway, N.J. for a BIG EAST doubleheader with Rutgers at noon.