FAIRFAX, Va. – Shannon Fitzgerald (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) went 3-for-3 with a home run, two RBI's and two runs scored as the Monmouth University softball team defeated George Mason, 6-1, Friday afternoon at George Mason Softball Complex. With the win, the Hawks improve to 2-3, while the Patriots fall to 0-7.

Lauren Howard (Orange, Calif./Foothill) had a double and scored two runs, while Rachel Shotzbarger (Saugus, Calif./Saugus) had a two-run single. Alicia DeSanto (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) singled, scored a run and added an RBI, while Justene Reyes (Carson, Calif./Warren) also singled.

Sydney Underhill (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) went the distance in the circle, allowing just one earned run on three hits and three walks. She struck out two in earning her first collegiate victory.

The Hawks never trailed in the game, with Fitzgerald leading off the top of the first with a home run. Underhill worked around a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the first by getting a strikeout and a groundout.

In the top of the third, Howard got things started with a one-out double, before Fitzgerald tripled to right to make it 2-0 Monmouth. A pair of lineouts stranded Fitzgerald at third and the Hawks led 2-0 after two and a half innings.

George Mason cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth. Brooke Blankenship led off with a triple, before Angela Maioran singled and was run for by Julia Czarnecki. Blankenship did not advance on the Maioran single through the left side and was thrown out at home on a wacky play in which an error was made on the infield to allow Lauren McColgan to reach safely, but Blankenship broke late for the plate and was thrown out. McColgan and Czarnecki moved up to second and third, respectively, on the throw home. Czarnecki then scored the Patriots' lone run on a Katherine Marsh groundout.

The Hawks got the run back in the top of the fifth. Raelynn Galindo (Yorba Linda, Calif./Yorba Linda) led off with a walk, before being replaced on the base path by Howard, who grounded into a fielder's choice. Fitzgerald then singled down the right field line to put runners on the corners. DeSanto followed with a single to left to score Howard.

Monmouth added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh. The first run came before the Hawks could benefit from a hit. Fitzgerald walked, moved to second on an error and came around to score on another Patriots defensive miscue. With Flores and DeSanto on first and second with one out, both runners moved up on an error by the George Mason catcher. Shotzbarger then cashed in with a two-run single up the middle. Underhill allowed a two-out walk, but closed out the victory in a hitless bottom of the seventh.

The Hawks continue play in the Mason Invitational Saturday, when they again face the Patriots at 10 a.m. and Cornell at 12:15 p.m.