Box Score WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Rachel Shotzbarger (Saugus, Calif./Saugus) went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, but the Monmouth University softball team fell to Villanova, 4-1, Wednesday afternoon at MU Softball Park. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 12-23, while the Wildcats improve to 23-27.

Chloe Howerth (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah) added a double for the Hawks, while Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana, Calif./Ocean View) accounted for Monmouth's only other hit, an RBI single up the middle to score Shotzbarger. Sydney Underhill (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) went the distance in the circle for the Hawks, allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits and a walk. She struck out eight.

The game was a pitchers' duel through six innings, with the Wildcats' Kate Poppe throwing no-hit ball through four innings and Underhill matching her zeroes in the scoring column. Villanova threatened first in the top of the second, when Kaylee Dalgarn singled and advanced two bases on wild pitches. But Underhill got a strikeout and a groundout to escape unscathed.

The Wildcats mounted another threat in the top of the fifth, when Aleshia Ayers reached on a soft line drive just over Ashalynn Umiamaka's (Kapolei, Hawaii/Kapolei [Eastern Arizona]) glove at second base and Poppe was hit by a pitch. The runners moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt, but Underhill got a pair of groundouts to get out of the jam.

A bad hop on a sharp ground ball from Shotzbarger to lead off the fifth gave Monmouth its first hit. A walk put runners on first and second with one out, but Poppe struck out Jill Freese (Oxford, Pa./Oxford Area) on a 3-2 pitch on the outside corner and induced Raelynn Galindo (Yorba Linda, Calif./Yorba Linda) popout to end the inning.

After Underhill struck out the side in the top of the sixth, Howerth hit a one-out double to left center. But Poppe stranded her there with a pair of strikeouts.

Dalgarn singled up the middle to lead off the top of the seventh before a throwing error on an Ayers bunt put runners on first and second with nobody out. Another sacrifice bunt attempt followed and Cardoza fielded, threw to Shotzbarger covering third to barely get the force out. But Lauren Herschberg followed with an RBI double to down the left field line to stake Villanova to a 1-0 lead. After a walk loaded the bases, Brittany Husk cleared the bases with a double to left center beyond the glove of a diving center fielder Kayleena Flores (Atwater, Cailf./Buhach Colony). The three-run double made it 4-0 Villanova heading to the bottom of the seventh.

Shotzbarger led off the bottom of the seventh with a double off the left field fence. Cardoza followed with a one-out RBI single up the middle, but that was all Monmouth could manage as the Wildcats closed out the 4-1 victory.   
 
The Hawks return to conference action Saturday, when they play host to Canisius. First pitch of the doubleheader from MU Softball Park is scheduled for 1 p.m. Before the game, there will be a ceremony commemorating the successful campaign to endow a scholarship in the memory of former Hawk Janelle Moorehead.