SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Monmouth University softball team split a pair of games at the
Seton Hall Strike Out Cancer Tournament on Friday, falling to Texas Tech, 4-2,
before beating Manhattan, 8-0, in five innings. With the results, the Hawks
move to 6-4 on the season. Texas Tech improved to 22-7 with the win, while
Manhattan fell to 1-9 with the loss.
Christine Scherr (Nazareth,
Pa./Nazareth Area) went 4-for-5 on the day, while Kaitie Schumacher (San Diego,
Calif./Scripps Ranch) went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI's. Vanessa
Cardoza (Santa Ana, Calif./Ocean View) chipped in with two hits and a team-high
four RBI's, while Chelsea Paprocki (Manassas, Va./Forest Park), Kayleena Flores
(Atwater, Calif./Buhach Colony) and Kate Kuzma (Freehold, N.J./Colts Neck)
added two hits each. Kuzma hammered a two-out, two-run home run against the
Jaspers. Alicia DeSanto (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) scored a team-high three
runs for Monmouth.
Alissa Schoelkopf (Sewell,
N.J./Washington Township) picked up her second win of the season in the circle against
Manhattan, scattering two hits and four walks without allowing a run in going
the full five innings. She struck out four. Lauren Sulick (Canfield,
Ohio/Canfield) took the loss against Texas Tech, surrendering four runs, three
earned, on six hits and six walks. Sulick struck out three.
In the first game of the day
against Texas Tech, Monmouth scattered 11 hits, but just two Hawks came across
to score. Monmouth took a 1-0 lead in the second when four consecutive Hawks
reached with two outs. Flores bunt singled before Scherr walked and Tish Derer
(Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) added another bunt single. Cardoza then
walked to force in Flores to open the scoring.
The difference in the game
came in the fourth, when the Red Raiders got three runs. A walk and a fielder's
choice on a sacrifice bunt put the first two runners on for Texas Tech, before
Melisa Ryba smacked a three-run home run. A Paprocki RBI single in the fifth
cut the deficit to 3-2, before the Red Raiders got an unearned run back in the
sixth to account for the final 4-2 margin.
Against Manhattan, the Hawks
struck for two runs in the second, four in the third and two more in the
fourth. Kuzma got the Hawks on the board first with a two-out, two-run home run
in the second. A walk, a bunt single and a fielder's choice on a sacrifice bunt
loaded the bases, before Cardoza walked to force in the Hawks' third run of the
day. Schumacher doubled down the left field line to clear the bases, putting
Monmouth ahead, 6-0.
After DeSanto reached on a walk
and moved to second on a Scherr bunt single, Derer's sacrifice bunt moved the
runners to second and third. Cardoza then drove in two with a single to account
for the final 8-0 margin.
The Hawks return to Strike
Out Cancer Tournament action tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., when they face the host
Pirates. Following the conclusion of the game, the teams will be seeded based
on the results of the round-robin tournament. The top seed will face the No. 4
seed at 2 p.m., before the second-seeded team faces No. 3 at 4:30 p.m. The losers
of Saturday's late games will square off in the consolation game on Sunday at
10 a.m., before the winners face each other in the 12:30 p.m. championship
game.
