COLLEGE STATION, Tex. ? The Monmouth University softball team split a doubleheader at the Texas A&M Invitational for the second straight day, defeating Texas Southern 9-0 in five innings and falling to the nationally-ranked #21 Aggies 12-1 in five frames.
In their first game of the day, the Hawks topped the Tigers 9-0 in five innings for the second time at the tournament. Sophomore Melissa Mehrer (Florence, N.J./Florence Township) hurled a one-hit shutout in the game, striking out five and walking no one to earn her first win of the season. The Hawks struck for five runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back, earning the shutout win. MU would put up another run in the third and tallied three runs in the fourth to defeat Texas Southern by the same 9-0 margin as they did yesterday.
Sophomore Emily deLong (Rothschild, Wisc./DC Everest) led the offensive change, going 3-for-3 with a triple and double while driving in and scoring two runs apiece. Junior Alexa Ferrara (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) went 1-for-2, including a three-run triple in the first inning. Freshman Chelsea Paprocki (Manassas, Va./Forest Park) went a perfect 2-for-2 in the first game with a RBI and a run scored and senior Jaime Jurewicz (Holland, Pa./Nazareth Academy) added a RBI double while sophomore Dara Palms (Humble, Tex./Humble) added a triple in the contest. Seniors Nichole Alvarez (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) and Candice Palumbo (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) each added two runs scored.
Monmouth fell to the nationally-ranked #21 Aggies for the second straight day in its second game, 12-1 in five innings. The hosts put up six runs in the top of the first inning and scored at least one run in each frame. Monmouth was able to get on the board in the bottom of the first when Alvarez reached on a fielder's choice and came around to score on deLong's second triple of the day.
Senior Kristine Sawlsville (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson) took the loss, giving up seven runs, including six earned, and six hits in two innings. She gave way to freshman Lauren Sulick (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield), who gave up four earned runs and three hits in 1.2 innings of work. Mehrer finished the game out, going the final 1.1 innings, giving up a hit and a run.
Monmouth concludes their stay at the Texas A&M Invitational on Sunday when they take on Texas Southern at 10:00 am.
