FAIRFAX, Va. – Junior Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana, Calif./Ocean View) and freshman Justene Reyes (Carson, Calif./Warren) had three hits each as the Monmouth University softball team split two games Saturday at the Mason Invitational. The Hawks fell to the host Patriots in the opener, 8-2, before bouncing back with a 5-4 victory over Cornell. The split pushes the Hawks' record to 3-4, while the Patriots are now 2-7 and the Big Red is 2-4.

Reyes reached base safely in 5-of-7 plate appearances, including a double, two singles and a pair of walks. She also drove in a run. Cardoza went 3-for-8 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. Rachel Shotzbarger (Saugus, Calif./Saugus), Shannon Fitzgerald (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) and Alicia DeSanto (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) added two hits apiece. Shotzbarger had a double and two RBI's, while Fitzgerald also drove in two. DeSanto contributed a triple. Fitzgerald and DeSanto scored once each.

Jill Freese (Oxford, Pa./Oxford Area), Nikki Sandelier (Turnersville, N.J./Washington Township) and Meagan Newton-Pender (Holbrook, Ariz./Holbrook [Mesa C.C.]) each went 1-for-3. Freese had a double, a run scored and an RBI, while Sandelier scored a run and stole a base. Newton-Pender singled in her first action as a Hawk.

Breanna Sniffen (Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange [St. Petersburg College]) took both decisions in the circle, allowing six runs, five earned, in 7.1 innings pitched. Sydney Underhill (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) also pitched in both games and allowed six runs, four earned, while striking out five in 6.2 innings.  

In the first game, the Patriots immediately jumped on the Hawks for four runs in the top of the first. A walk, a bunt single and an error loaded the bases for Casey Price, who delivered a two-run single up the middle. Another run scored on an error, before a Lauren McColgan bunt single scored the fourth run. A walk and a single to lead off the second set up Price again and the sophomore first baseman responded with a sacrifice fly to stake George Mason to a 5-0 lead.

After the Patriots loaded the bases with one out in the third, Underhill replaced Sniffen in the circle. The freshman induced a fielder's choice and got a strikeout to end the threat. She went on to retired the first nine batters she faced to keep the George Mason lead at 5-0.

The Hawks scratched across a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. Fitzgerald and Cardoza singled before Shotzbarger doubled to left to score both base runners. However, the Patriots scored three runs in the top of the seventh to put the game away.

Against Cornell, each team scored three runs in the second. The three for the Hawks were unearned after Kaitie Schumacher (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) reached on a two-out error by the Big Red third baseman. Freese immediately made Cornell pay for the miscue with an RBI double to right. Sandelier's single through the right side put runners on the corners to set the table for Fitzgerald's two-run single to right.

The Big Red also did its damage with a two-out rally. After Underhill retired the first two batters of the inning, consecutive singles set up Chloe Pendergast's three-run blast to tie the game.

Sniffen replaced Underhill in the circle to start the third and posted four-straight scoreless frames. Meanwhile, the Hawks scored two in the top of the fifth to qualify her for the win. DeSanto led off with a triple and scored the go-ahead run on Cardoza's double to left. A Shotzbarger bunt single put runners on the corners, before Reyes singled through the left to score Cardoza, giving the Hawks a 5-3 lead.

Jenny Edwards led off the bottom of the seventh with a home run to cut Monmouth's lead in half at 5-4. But Sniffen settled down to induce three-straight groundouts to secure the victory.

The Hawks conclude play in the Mason Invitational Sunday, when they again face Cornell (9 a.m.) and George Mason (1:30 p.m.).