Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Sydney Underhill (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) struck out a season-high 13 batters in Game 1 and Kayleena Flores (Atwater, Calif./Buhach Colony) went 3-for-4 on the day as the Monmouth University softball team split a MAAC doubleheader against Marist on Thursday afternoon at MU Softball Park. Monmouth won Game 1, 6-3, before falling in Game 2, 12-0. With the split, Monmouth moves to 11-16 (3-5 MAAC), while Marist is now 14-20 (5-3 MAAC).
Underhill went the distance in Game 1, allowing three unearned runs on five hits and four walks, while striking out 13. She then allowed five earned runs on four hits and a walk in 2.1 innings of relief in Game 2, striking out three more. Breanna Sniffen (Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange [St. Petersburg College]) started Game 2 and took the loss, allowing seven runs, four earned, on seven hits and one walk. She was victimized by the long ball, with all seven runs scoring on three home runs.
Flores paced the Hawks with a double, a triple, a sacrifice fly and three RBI's in Game 1, before adding a Game 2 double. Her triple to lead off the bottom of the sixth set the table for the Hawks to score the go-ahead run, breaking a 3-3 tie. Jill Freese (Oxford, Pa./Oxford Area) also added a 3-for-5 effort with a double, a run scored and an RBI. Kaitie Schumacher (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) and Justene Reyes (Carson, Calif./Warren) also added two hits apiece. Reyes also scored twice. Raelynn Galindo (Yorba Linda, Calif./Yorba Linda) chipped in with a 2-for-2 effort with a two-run pinch-hit single in the sixth inning of Game 1.
Marist pushed across a run in the top of the 1st in Game 1 without benefit of a hit. A walk, a hit-by-pitch and a walk loaded the bases with two outs, before a passed ball allowed Maureen Duddy to score the Red Foxes first run. The Hawks got the run back in the bottom of the 2nd as Reyes singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, took third on a groundout and scored on Flores' sacrifice fly.
Both teams scored twice in the third. Underhill looked to have the Red Foxes retired in the third, but a dropped catch error on the would-be third out on a force play at first prolonged the inning. Rebecca Freeman then followed with a two-run single to give Marist a 3-1 lead. In the bottom half on the inning, Alicia DeSanto (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) got things started with a one-out walk, before being replaced by Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana, Calif./Ocean View) at first following a fielder's choice. Cardoza went first-to-third on a Reyes single and the freshman took second on the throw to third. Flores then doubled both runners home to tie the game at 3-3.
After two scoreless frames, the Hawks broke through for three runs in the bottom of the 6th. Flores led off with a triple to right center and, after Schumacher was hit by a pitch, scored on a fielder's choice. With two outs, Shannon Fitzgerald (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) singled and advanced to second on a throw to third. Galindo then pinch hit and singled up the middle to give the Hawks two insurance runs. Underhill got two strikeouts and a groundout to complete the victory in the 7th.
In Game 2, Marist got on the board in the 2nd when Aly Klemmer hit a solo home run to left center. Klemmer struck again with a grand slam off the scoreboard in left center in the 3rd to stake Marist to a 5-0 lead. The damage extended to 7-0 on Nicole Cheek's line-drive home run over the center field fence later in the inning, chasing Sniffen from the game.
Marist tacked on three runs in the 4th and two more in the 5th. The first run scored on an odd play in which the Hawks recorded the second consecutive out on a force play at the plate. But after Underhill retrieved the ball from the catcher Galindo and starting walking back to the circle, Kuzma, who started the play at second, broke for the plate and scored past Underhill's throw back to Galindo. Freeman followed with a two-run single to push Marist's lead to 10-0. Underhill got the first two outs of the fifth before Duddy walked and scored on a Kyrsten Van Natta triple. Van Natta then scored on a Kuzma single up the middle to make it 12-0.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, when they play host to intrastate MAAC foe Saint Peter's for a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
