Box Score BUFFALO, N.Y. – The fifth-seeded Monmouth University softball team racked up 12 runs on 13 hits to activate the mercy rule after five innings against top-seeded Canisius, 12-1, in the winners' bracket of the MAAC Championships Thursday afternoon at the Demske Sports Complex. With Monmouth's sixth-straight win, the Hawks (18-23) advance to face regular season co-champion and second-seeded Fairfield tomorrow at 11 a.m. The winner will advance to the championship round, needing just one win in two tries Saturday to take home the conference tournament championship.
Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana, Cailf./Ocean View) hit two doubles, drove in three and scored twice, while
Chloe Howerth (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah) also had two hits and three RBI's.
Kayleena Flores (Atwater, Calif./Buhach Colony) added a pair of hits, an RBI and three runs scored, while
Justene Reyes (Carson, Calif./Warren) went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Ashalynn Umiamaka (Kapolei, Hawaii/Kapolei [Eastern Arizona]) chipped in with a hit and two runs scored, while
Jill Freese (Oxford, Pa./Oxford Area) hit a two-run double and scored a run.
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.
“We are definitely hungry,” said Monmouth Head Coach
Louie Berndt. “We're on a mission and I hope our bats, our defense and our pitching stay hot. We're playing together and I'm so happy for the team.”
The Hawks struck first on a Reyes bloop single to shallow right. Umiamaka, who'd reached on a fielder's choice, was off on contact and scored all the way from first. Canisius right fielder Michelle DelPrince made a diving attempt, but her trap attempt was gloved aside, allowing Umiamaka to score.
Monmouth hung five on the board in the top of the third to take a 6-0 lead. Singles from Umiamaka and Reyes and a fielding error on
Rachel Shotzbarger's (Saugus, Calif./Saugus) at bat loaded the bases with no one out. Flores drove in a run with a single to center before MAAC Rookie of the Year Erika Mackie entered the game and walked Cardoza to force in a run. Wild pitches scored Shotzbarger and Flores before a Howerth groundout plated Cardoza with the Hawks' sixth run.
Canisius responded with a single run in the bottom of the third. Tori Nappo worked a leadoff walk, before a controversial play in which a Meghan Cuda dribbler in front of the plate rolled into her bat in fair territory with Cuda halfway up the first base line. Cuda was called out on batter's interference and Nappo sent back to first. But Jessica Berzins followed with a double to left center to score Nappo. Berzins advanced to third on the throw home, but could not score as Underhill induced a groundout and climbed the latter to get Alexis Roman swinging.
Monmouth used another two-out rally to score four more in the top of the fourth. Flores singled, Cardoza followed with a ground-rule double and Freese reached out and poked a two-run double to left center. The Hawks loaded the bases on a
Nikki Sandelier (Turnersville, N.J./Washington Township) hit by pitch and Hill's second bunt single of the day. Howerth then lined a two-run single to center to score Freese and Sandelier with Monmouth's ninth and 10th runs of the game.
The ambush continued in the fifth as Reyes singled, a throwing error allowed Flores to reach and pinch runner
Raeann Buskey (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) moved to second. Cardoza then plated two with her second-straight opposite-field double just inside the right field line to make it 12-1.
Underhill limited Canisius to a walk in the bottom of the fifth, ending the game with a lineout, a popout and a flyout.
