WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University softball team was swept by Bryant University in Northeast Conference play on Sunday, falling 12-7 and 3-2 in eight innings, at the MU Softball Park. The Hawks fall to 15-18 overall and 6-8 in the league, while the Bulldogs improve to 19-15 and 9-3 in the conference.
In the first contest the Bulldogs took a 6-1 lead after two innings and hung on for the victory, while they prevailed in extra innings in the second affair.
MU was led in the first game by freshman Alicia DeSanto (Upper Darby, Pa. /Upper Darby), who went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a RBI. Three other Hawks added two hits each, as Tish Derer (Philadelphia, Pa. /Saint Basil Academy), Emily deLong (Rothschild, Wisc. /DC Everest) and Kayla Weiser (Vandergrift, Pa. /Kiski Area) all had multi-hit efforts. Weiser added four RBIs and a double, deLong logged a run scored and one driven in and Derer crossed home plate once.
Weiser drilled a two-out, two-RBI double, chasing home deLong and Kate Kuzma (Freehold, N.J. /Colts Neck), in the sixth to cut BU's lead to 10-7, but the visitor's tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh and hung on for the win.
The Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the second game after Derer drove in Colleen Kelly (Tallmadge, Ohio /Tallmadge) with two outs. After Bryant struck for two runs in the top of the fourth, MU tied it up in the fifth after Weiser drove in Derer with a single.
The Bulldogs scored in the top of the eighth when Kendall Corder doubled home Aubrey Mable with what proved to be the winning run.
Derer and Weiser both logged multi-hit performances in the second game for the Hawks, who have now dropped four straight contests.
Junior Michelle Rapp (Hammonton, N.J. /Hammonton) logged a pair of complete-games on the day, falling to 0-3 on the season. In the first game she surrendered 12 hits and six earned runs, while giving up nine hits and no earned runs (three runs) in the second game.
MU returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Princeton University for a nonconference doubleheader with the Tigers. First pitch is set for 3:30 pm.
