Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Jill Freese (Oxford, PA/Oxford Area) homered twice and drove in three and Katie Baron (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney) homered, doubled twice and had three RBI's as the Monmouth University softball team swept hOURglass rival Rider, 9-0 and 11-0, in a pair of five-inning mercy-rule-shortened contests Saturday afternoon at MU Softball Park. Monmouth pitchers Amanda Riley (Tracy, CA/John C. Kimball) and Sydney Underhill (Temecula, CA/Chaparral) each hurled complete-game shutouts and established new season-highs in strikeouts with 10 and six, respectively. Riley's 10 K's are also a career-high. Monmouth improved to 13-11 (2-0 MAAC) with the win, while Rider falls to 3-21 (0-2 MAAC).

Baron finished 4-for-4 with four runs scored, while Chloe Howerth (Roscoe, IL/Hononegah), Justene Reyes (Carson, CA/Warren), Riley, Ashalynn Umiamaka (Kapolei, HI/Kapolei [Eastern Arizona]) and Freese piled up three hits apiece. Riley homered, doubled twice, drove in three and scored three runs. Reyes hit a pair of doubles and scored twice, while Emma Hill (Rae, MO/King City [Highland C.C.]) had an RBI triple and three runs scored. Rachel Shotzbarger (Saugus, CA/Saugus) also delivered a bases-clearing double to finish with three RBI's.

Riley fanned 10 of the 17 batters she faced in the one-hit shutout. She didn't walk a batter, but hit one. Underhill allowed five hits and a walk in her five innings, striking out six.

"It was great to come out in our first MAAC series and take two," said Monmouth Head Coach Shannon Salsburg. "It really sets the tone for what we need to do throughout the entire conference season."

Monmouth immediately jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first in Game 1. Hill walked, Howerth singled and Shotzbarger reached on a dropped fly ball to left to load the bases. Reyes followed with a sacrifice fly down the right field line to score Hill, before Umiamaka singled to right to score Howerth. The ball was also mishandled in right field, allowing Shotzbarger to score.

Baron led off the bottom of the second with a single through the left side before scoring on Hill's triple to right. On the play to third, the throw sailed into the Rider dugout, allowing Hill to score, making it 5-0 Monmouth. Freese led off the bottom of the third with a towering home run down the left-field line, before Riley followed with an opposite-field jack to right center to stake Monmouth to a 7-0 lead.

Riley doubled with one out in the fifth, setting the table for Baron's walk-off, two-run home run to right.

In Game 2, Monmouth struck for 10 runs in the bottom of the second. After Reyes and Umiamaka each singled, the Broncs recorded the first two outs. But Riley doubled home two and Baron traded places with her with an RBI double of her own. Hill walked and Howerth singled to load the bases for Shotzbarger, whose double to deep center plated three more to make it 6-0. Reyes' double pushed the lead to 7-0, before Umiamaka singled her home to make it 8-0. Freese punctuated the scoring with her second home run of the day, this time punching it out to right center to extend Monmouth's lead to 10-0 after two.

Baron doubled with one out in the third, took third on a groundout and scored on Howerth's two-out infield single to make it 11-0. The support was more than enough for Riley, who struck out the side in the second and third innings and faced no more than four batters in any of her five innings.

The Hawks' doubleheader at Iona, originally slated for tomorrow at noon, has been rescheduled for Wednesday at noon due to high winds in the forecast. Monmouth will next take the field Tuesday, when it travels to intrastate foe Princeton at 4 p.m.