Box Score LOS ANGELES –
Justene Reyes (Carson, CA/Warren) homered and drove in three as the Monmouth University softball team walked off with a 6-5 win over Harvard Sunday to conclude play in the Loyola Marymount Tournament. Earlier in the day, the Hawks fell in the resumption of their suspended game from Friday with Loyola Marymount, 5-4, in eight innings. With the split, Monmouth is now 7-6, while the Lions are 14-7 and the Crimson is 6-5.
Chloe Howerth (Roscoe, IL/Hononegah) had two hits and two runs scored against the Crimson, while
Ashalynn Umiamaka (Kapolei, HI/Kapolei [Eastern Arizona]) added a two-run single.
Emma Hill (Rae, MO/King City [Highland C.C.]) and
Rachel Shotzbarger (Saugus, CA/Saugus) had a hit and a run scored each.
Sydney Underhill (Temecula, CA/Chaparral) pitched four innings of scoreless relief, allowing just two hits to earn the win. She also took the loss against the Lions, allowing just one unearned run on four hits in 3.2 innings pitched.
Amanda Riley (Tracy, CA/John C. Kimball) got the start against Harvard, allowing five runs, three earned, on four hits and two walks in three innings.
In the resumption of Friday's game against Loyola Marymount, which was tied at 4-4 after five, the Lions threatened in the bottom of the sixth, but Howerth threw out the potential go-ahead run at the plate for the final out. Monmouth put the first two batters on in the top of the seventh, but they'd be left stranded on first and second.
After Underhill got three groundouts in the bottom of the seventh, the game headed to extra innings. With the international tie-breaker putting
Katie Baron (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney) on second base, Hill bunted her over to third for the first out. But the Lions got a groundout and a strikeout to keep the score tied at 4-4. In the bottom of the inning, an error put runners on the corners, before Shianne Ybarra's sacrifice fly to center gave LMU the 5-4 win.
The Hawks fell behind in the top of the first against Harvard, when the Crimson got a leadoff single, a passed ball and a sacrifice bunt to put a runner on third. A groundout later in the inning scored the first run of the game. Monmouth answered with three in the bottom of the frame. Hill and Howerth reached consecutively on bunt singles, while a Shotzbarger walk loaded the bases. Reyes' ground ball drove in a run, while she also reached on an error. Umiamaka followed with a two-run single up the middle to make it 3-1 Hawks after one.
A single and a walk to begin the top of the second set the table for Haley Davis, whose three-run home run to right center gave the lead back to the Crimson, 4-3. The Crimson tacked on an unearned insurance run in the third, with the leadoff batter reaching on an error and coming around to score on a two-out single. The Hawks got the run back in the bottom of the fifth, when Reyes hit a two-out solo home run to left.
The score remained 5-4 Harvard until the bottom of the seventh. Howerth and Shotzbarger singled consecutively with one out to put runners on the corners. Reyes hit a fielder's choice to shortstop, allowing Howerth to score the tying run. On the play, Reyes moved to second, before being replaced by pinch runner
Jasmine Higa (Apple Valley, CA/Apple Valley). Higa took third on a passed ball and scored on a throwing error to end the game.
The Hawks fly cross country to play five games in Florida this week, beginning with a Tuesday doubleheader at Stetson. First pitch from DeLand is slated for 4 p.m.
