FINAL SCORE
Monmouth (5-23) – 5
Columbia (10-15) – 3
 
WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Abby Warner had two extra base hits, including a solo home run in the sixth inning, as the Monmouth University softball team defeated the Columbia Lions, 5-3, at MU Softball Park on Wednesday afternoon.

Warner (2-for-4, R, RBI) and great relief efforts by Kelly Toomey and Kylie Gletow were key in the win snapping a seven-game losing streak.

After starter Billie Kerwood exited the game in the second inning, the Lions jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a two-run homer to left. Toomey took over for Kerwood and struck out four of the 10 hitters she faced over 2.1 innings, allowing just two runs.

The Hawks would battle back to tie the game at two in the bottom of the third when Devin Coia lofted a single to left center that plated Mackenzie Bloss and Lexi Castaneda, who pinch ran for Warner following her double. Columbia scored another on a triple in the fourth to retake the lead, but Toomey and Gletow, who gave the Hawks 3.1 innings of shutout pitching and a pair of strikeouts, limited the damage, getting a strikeout and a pop to end the inning. Eve Serrato brought home Julia Thuer on a sacrifice fly to tie it right back up at three apiece.

Monmouth struck again in the bottom of the fifth when Thuer lined a two-out, two-strike pitch into right center to give the Hawks their first lead of the afternoon, 4-3. Gletow worked around a leadoff double in the top of the sixth, and then, with two outs and no one on, Warner hammered a full count offering over the wall down the left field line to extend the MU lead.

Gletow allowed a single in the seventh but got three groundouts to cap off a 5-3 victory for the Hawks.

NOTES & QUOTES
"Great team win today. I am proud of the overall fight and continued push today." – Head Coach Shannon Salsburg
 
- Abby Warner has nine career homers.
- Kylie Gletow recorded her second win of 2023 and 22^nd of her career.
- The Hawks have beaten the Lions in four out of the last six times.
 
NUMBER CRUNCH
- Devin Coia extended her hit streak to four games.
- Warner leads the team with six XBH this season.
- MU outhit Columbia, 7-5.
- Monmouth left seven runners on base, while Columbia left five.
 
UP NEXT
The Hawks host North Carolina A&T in a CAA doubleheader on Friday, April 7, beginning at noon. The three-game series is set to conclude on Saturday.