COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Monmouth University softball team swept a pair of games against Liberty and fell to North Dakota State in a tripleheader, Sunday afternoon at the 2012 Aggie Invitational at Texas A&M's Aggie Softball Complex. The Hawks took a decisive 7-0 victory in the first game of the day against Liberty, before falling, 8-1, to North Dakota State. In the nightcap, the Hawks edged Liberty for the second time on the day, 2-1. The results move Monmouth to 5-3 on the young season.

Lauren Sulick (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) had a stellar day in the circle for the Hawks, gaining both victories against Liberty, allowing just one earned run on nine hits and six walks in 13.2 innings. She struck out four, while holding opponents to a .192 average. Chelsea Paprocki (Manassas, Va./Forest Park) and Kayleena Flores (Atwater, Calif./Buhach Colony) contributed three hits each on the day for the Hawks' offense, while Christine Scherr (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) added two hits, including her team-leading fourth home run of the season to break a 1-1 tie in the seventh in the second game against Liberty.

In the first game against Liberty, the Hawks ambushed the Flames for six runs in the first two innings. After an error and a fielder's choice put two runners on, Kayla Weiser (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) doubled in the first run of the game. Kaitie Schumacher (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) followed with an RBI single to put the Hawks on top, 2-0, after one inning.

Paprocki and Flores singled consecutively before Scherr reached safely on a fielder's choice to load the bases in the second with nobody out. Tish Derer (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) brought two more home with a double, before Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana, Calif./Ocean View) got one RBI on a sacrifice fly, with another run scoring on the same play on an error by the right fielder.

The Hawks tacked on an insurance run in the fifth on a Flores RBI single. The seven runs were much more than enough for Sulick, who scattered three hits and two walks in six innings pitched, striking out two. Alissa Schoelkopf (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) shut the door in the seventh, keeping the Flames off the scoreboard, allowing one hit and one walk, while striking out one.   

North Dakota State scored twice in the first inning of the second game of the day, and the Hawks could never pull even. The Hawks got one back when Scherr scored on a Cardoza single in the third. But the Bison tacked on three in the fourth, one in the fifth and two more in the sixth to come away with the 8-1 victory.

Scoreless through four innings in the nightcap against Liberty, Jenna Jaquish (Highland, Calif./Redlands East Valley) broke the tie, reaching on an error, moving to third on a Scherr single, before scoring on a throwing error. A North Dakota State triple and sacrifice fly evened the score at 1-1 after five innings.

Both teams went scoreless in the sixth, before Scherr provided the heroics with a home run that snuck over the wall and under the underneath the scoreboard in right-center field.

Monmouth's scheduled doubleheader at Stephen F. Austin tomorrow has been canceled due to poor field conditions. The Hawks will now return to action at the 2012 Seton Hall Pirate Classic, beginning Friday at 9 a.m. against Texas Tech.