Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Five different Hawks had two hits apiece as the Monmouth University softball team split a conference doubleheader with Fairfield Sunday afternoon at MU Softball Park. Monmouth made quick work of the Stags in Game 1 with an 8-0 victory in five innings, while Fairfield evened things with a 10-2 Game 2 victory. With the split, Monmouth moves to 11-19 (7-5 MAAC), while the Fairfield is now 15-19 (10-4 MAAC).
Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana, Calif./Ocean View),
Chloe Howerth (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah),
Rachel Shotzbarger (Saugus, Calif./Saugus),
Kayleena Flores (Atwater, Calif./Buhach Colony) and
Jill Freese (Oxford, Pa./Oxford Area) had two hits apiece for the Hawks. Cardoza had a double and a home run, while Shotzbarger also homered. Howerth had an RBI double and two runs scored, while Flores added a triple and a run scored.
Justene Reyes (Carson, Calif./Warren) contributed a three-run double in Game 1, while
Ashalynn Umiamaka (Kapolei, Hawaii/Kapolei [Eastern Arizona]) had an RBI single and a bases-loaded walk in Game 1.
Amanda Riley (Tracy, Calif./John C. Kimball) pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 1, limiting Fairfield to just three hits and three walks. She also pitched 3.1 innings of relief in Game 2, allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits and a walk.
Sydney Underhill (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) took the Game 2 loss, allowing three earned runs on four hits and a walk in 2.0 innings.
Monmouth scored in all four innings that its offense came to bat in Game 1. Howerth reached on a one-out walk in the first inning, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on an Umiamaka single through the right side. The Hawks then posted a five-run bottom of the second. Cardoza led off with a majestic home run to left before Umiamaka walked with the bases loaded to force in another run. Reyes then hit a bases-clearing double, making it 6-0 Monmouth.
Brooke Redmond (Cooksville, Md./Glenelg) led off the third with a single, took second on Hill's sacrifice bunt and scored on a Howerth double down the left field line to make it 7-0 after three. In the fourth, Reyes led off with a hit by pitch, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Shotzbarger's single up the middle to make it 8-0 Hawks. The game ended in the top of the fifth as Reyes fielded a one-hopper to first, stepped on the bag and threw in time for Shotzbarger to tag the runner from first for a double play.
Fairfield jumped out in front, 7-0, in Game 2 with one run in the first, two runs in the second and four runs in the fourth. Tori Reed delivered an RBI single in the first before Lauren Filicia drove in two with a two-out single in the second. Sam Frungillo's RBI single in the fourth made it 5-0 in the fourth with a second run scoring on the play via an error. Kate Robinson punctuated the scoring with a two-run home run to left.
Monmouth got its two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Shotzbarger hit a two-out line-drive solo home run to left center to get the Hawks on the board. Flores then singled and, running on contact, took third on Cardoza's blooper to shallow right. Cardoza stretched the play into a double, drawing a throw to second and allowing Flores to score, cutting the deficit to 7-2.
Fairfield added a run on Nicole Capra's leadoff solo home run in the fifth and added two more runs in the seventh on an RBI double from Sammy Ruffalo and an error.
The Hawks return to non-conference action Wednesday, when they travel to Penn for a single game. First pitch from Philadelphia is scheduled for 4 p.m.
