WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Kate Kuzma (Freehold, N.J./Colts Neck) went 2-for-4
with a walk-off RBI single in Game 1 and a decisive grand slam in Game 2 as the
Monmouth University softball team swept NEC rival Wagner Friday afternoon at MU
Softball Park. Monmouth took Game 1, 4-3, before completing the sweep with a
7-3 Game 2 victory. With the sweep, the Hawks improve to 13-13 (5-5 NEC), while
the Seahawks fall to 10-24, 3-5 NEC).
Kuzma finished the day with a
team-best five RBI's. In total, the Hawks scored nine of their 11 runs on four
home runs by Kuzma, Kaitie Schumacher (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch), Kayla
Weiser (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) and Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana,
Calif./Ocean View). Shannon Fitzgerald (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) added a
3-for-5 day, while Tish Derer (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) went
3-for-6. Christine Scherr (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) added a 3-for-7 effort
with an RBI triple, while Schumacher also went 3-for-7.
Lauren Sulick (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield)
picked up both victories in the circle, allowing three earned runs over 11.0
innings pitched. She scattered nine hits and eight walks, while striking out
nine. Sulick came on in relief in the third inning of Game 1 and pitched the
next 11 innings, before Alissa Schoelkopf (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township)
shut the door on Game 2, pitching a one-two-three seventh with one strikeout.
The Seahawks struck first in
both games, before the Hawks came back to win both contests. In the first
inning of Game 1, Kristen Matteoni was hit by a pitch to lead off the game,
before coming around to score on Kelsey Parker's RBI double off the right
center field wall. After moving to third on a Brittany Huss single, Parker
scored on an extra bobble by the left fielder to make it 2-0 Wagner after a
half inning.
In the bottom of the first,
the Hawks answered back with three runs. Weiser sent a two-out, two-run shot
over the left field fence to tie the game at 2-2, before Schumacher went
back-to-back with another jack to left field to put the Hawks on top, 3-2. In
the top of the second, Matteoni singled down the left field line with one out
to even the game at 3-3.
Following five innings of
scoreless ball, the Hawks broke through for the walk-off win in the bottom of
the seventh. Derer led off with an infield single, before Cardoza replaced her
at first on a fielder's choice. Weiser and Schumacher followed with singles to
load the bases, before Kuzma's pinch-hit ground ball was fielded by the
drawn-in shortstop Parker on a diving stop. But her only play, a flip to second,
was not in time and Cardoza scored the game-winning run.
In Game 2, the Seahawks
struck for three runs in the second. Three singles loaded the bases with one
out, before Sulick struck out Carley Nicoletti for the second out. But a
throwing error on a pickoff attempt brought in the first run before a two-RBI
single from Huss made it 3-0.
The Hawks answered back in
the fifth, when Kuzma cleared the bases with a two-out grand slam over the left
center field fence to put Monmouth on top, 4-3. The Hawks added three more runs
in the sixth on a Scherr RBI triple down the right field line and a two-run
home run by Cardoza.
The Hawks return to action Thursday,
when they play host to Villanova in a non-conference doubleheader. First pitch
is scheduled for 3 p.m. at MU Softball Park.
