COLLEGE STATION, Tex. - The Monmouth University softball team dropped a pair of contests at the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday, falling to Brigham Young, 9-6 and the host #19 Aggies, 10-0 in five innings. MU drops to 1-3 on the season after the pair of tournament tilts.
The Hawks took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first frame against the Cougars on a two-RBI double to left center from senior Jessica Nicola (South Amboy, N.J. /Sayreville War Memorial). After falling behind, 3-2 after three innings, MU exploded for four runs in the fourth on run-scoring hits from Dara Palms (Humble, Tex. /Humble) and freshman Christine Scherr (Nazareth, Pa. /Nazareth Area).
BYU came back and scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth and four in the fifth to take the final 9-6 lead. Junior Emily deLong (Rothschild, Wisc. /DC Everest) went 2-for-4 with two RBI from the leadoff spot, while Nicola collected three hits.
Junior Melissa Mehrer (Florence, N.J. /Florence) took the loss, giving up 12 hits and eight earned runs in 4.1 innings.
In MU's second game of the day, they allowed nine runs in the first frame to the Aggies and never recovered. Palms took the loss for the Hawks in the circle, while Lauren Sulick (Canfield, Ohio /Canfield) relieved both contests, pitching 5.2 combined innings in the two games, scattering 12 hits.
Monmouth wraps up its stay at the Aggies tournament on Sunday when it faces Northern Colorado at 10:00 am.
