QUEENS, N.Y. ? The Monmouth University softball team, seeded fourth, split its first two games in the 2009 Northeast Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon at Red Storm Field on the campus of St. John's University. The Hawks began the postseason with an upset of top-seeded Long Island, 5-4 in eight innings and then dropped a 4-1 decision to #3 Sacred Heart in their second game. MU now faces LIU again in an elimination game at 10:00 am on Saturday for the right to take on the Pioneers for the tournament title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Monmouth's win over LIU marked the first time the Hawks have topped the Blackbirds in the NEC Tournament since 1997, when MU defeated the Blackbirds 10-2 in the tournament's first round. It is the Blue and White's first win against Long Island of any kind since April 2, 2006.
With Monmouth down 3-1 with one out in the top of the seventh against LIU, sophomore Abby Martin (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego) singled over the first base fielder's head to cut Long Island's lead to a single run, plating pinch runner Jessellyn Jackson (Howell, N.J./Colts Neck). Freshman Chelsea Paprocki (Manassas, Va./Forest Park) then executed a textbook suicide squeeze to plate senior Nichole Alvarez (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) and tie the contest at 3-3.
Three consecutive singles from senior Lee Simonetti (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Our Lady of Lourdes), sophomore Emily deLong (Rothschild, Wisc./DC Everest) and junior Alexa Ferrara (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) loaded the bases for Monmouth with one out in the eighth. Alvarez then gathered the Hawks fourth straight single, plating Simonetti and deLong, to put MU in front 5-3.
LIU loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth, when Bianca Mejia scored on Chelsea Martinson's sacrifice fly to left, cutting Monmouth's lead to 5-4. The Hawks shut the door there to advance to the winner's bracket for the second time in three years.
Alvarez led off the top of the second inning with an infield single, MU's first hit of the contest, and came around to score the tournament's first run on an Abby Martin (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego) single up the middle.
Monmouth starter Melissa Mehrer (Florence, N.J./Florence Township) retired the first eight batters she faced before walking Stephanie Savre and giving up a bloop single to Mariesha Marker with two away in the bottom of the third. The sophomore pitcher got out of the jam in the third frame when she induced LIU's Bianca Mejia to ground out with runners on second and third.
The Blackbirds again put runners on second and third, this time with one out in the bottom of the fourth, and tied the game at 1-1 after Amanda MacIntosh drove in Brynn Lewis. The Hawks held LIU to just the one run in the frame thanks to Alvarez, who caught Sterling Hoham's fly out to center and then gunned Chelsea Martinson at home to complete the double play.
Mejia broke the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth for Long Island when she drove Mehrer's first pitch of the frame off of the left field scoreboard to put the Blackbirds in front. Renae Beauchman added the top-seed's second solo shot of the inning when she lifted a Mehrer offering over the centerfield fence to give LIU a 3-1 lead.
Ferrara led off the top of the seventh with an infield single and was lifted for a pinch runner in Jackson. She moved to second base on Alvarez's base hit to left, and both runners advanced one more bag when Jessica Nicola (South Amboy, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial) grounded out to second.
The win snapped a bevy of Blackbird streaks, including losing pitcher Jenny Giles' 14-game personal winning streak and the team's nine-game winning streak.
In their second game of the day, the Hawks fell 4-1 to the Pioneers. Sacred Heart struck first when Taylor Froelich led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run to left field. The Pioneers loaded the bases after the Froelich home run, and with two away Shannon McCoy drove home Courtney Lee to increase the lead to 2-0. With one away in the bottom of the third, SHU was poised to add to its lead, but Alexa Ferrara came home on a ground ball to cut down the run, keeping the game 2-0.
Nicola got Monmouth on the board and cut the Pioneers lead to one after connecting on a homer to lead off the top of the fifth frame.
Senior Kristine Sawlsville (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson) started the second game for Monmouth in the circle, surrendering seven hits and two earned runs in 3.2 innings before giving way to Mehrer, who gave up four hits and two runs in 2.1 frames pitched.
