Box Score WASHINGTON, DC – The Monmouth University softball team scored double-digit runs to win their second-straight game by mercy rule, defeating Maryland, 11-2, in six innings Saturday at the District Invite. With the win, the Hawks even their record at 3-3, while the Terrapins are now 5-12. Junior
Justene Reyes (Carson, CA/Warren) hit a walk-off, three-run home run in the sixth, while freshman
Nicole Wieczorek (Oakdale, NY/Connetquot) also added a two-run shot for her first collegiate home run.
Emma Hill (Rae, MO/King City [Highland C.C.]),
Chloe Howerth (Roscoe, IL/Hononegah) and
Ashalynn Umiamaka (Kapolei, HI/Kapolei [Eastern Arizona]) had two hits apiece, with Howerth and Umiamaka scoring twice each and Hill crossing the plate once.
Jill Freese (Oxford, PA/Oxford Area) also chipped in with a two-run double, while
Rachel Shotzbarger (Saugus, CA/Saugus) singled and scored twice.
Sydney Underhill (Temecula, CA/Chaparral) earned the win in the circle, allowing two earned runs on seven hits and two walks in 4.2 innings. She struck out two.
Amanda Riley (Tracy, CA/John C. Kimball) closed out the victory by retiring all five batters she faced, including three by strikeout.
Playing as the designated home team, the Hawks got things started with three runs in the bottom of the first. The Hawks loaded the bases with no one out before the Terrapins turned a 5-2-3 double play for the first two outs. But Umiamaka delivered a two-out, RBI single and Freese followed with a two-run single to left center to make it 3-0.
Monmouth added a run in the fourth, as
Brooke Redmond (Cooksville, MD/Glenelg) doubled with one out, before
Nikki Sandelier (Turnersville, NJ/Washington Township) came on to pinch run. She'd move to third on a wild pitch and score on Hill's groundout back to the pitcher.
The Hawks scored three more in the third to make it 7-0 after three. Reyes was hit by a pitch with one out and
Jasmine Higa (Apple Valley, CA/Apple Valley) took her place on the base paths. Umiamaka's single put runners on the corners, before she stole second and an errant throw allowed Higa to score and Umiamaka to take third. With two outs, Wieczorek blasted her first collegiate home run, a two-run shot over the center field fence.
Maryland got two back in the top of the fourth. Four-straight base hits to begin the inning put the two runs on the board, with Jordan Aughinbaugh hitting an RBI double and Emily Libero driving in the second run with a single. But Underhill settled down to record the next three outs consecutively and limit the damage.
Following a scoreless fifth inning, Monmouth scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth, all with two out, to end the game early. Hill doubled to begin the two-out rally, before scoring on Howerth's single up the middle. Shotzbarger then singled to put two on for Reyes, who hit a walk-off, three-run home run to right center.
The Hawks return to action Sunday, when they face former conference foe Robert Morris at 11 a.m. and round out the weekend with a 1:30 p.m. match-up with George Washington. Both games will be played at the Mount Vernon Athletic Complex.
