FINAL SCORE
Hampton (6-19, 0-4 CAA) – 4
Monmouth (8-16, 2-1 CAA) – 5
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Graduate left fielder
Dani Dabroski tied and won the game with RBI singles in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively, as the Monmouth University Softball Team walked off the Hampton Lady Pirates, 5-4, Friday afternoon at MU Softball Park.
Monmouth found themselves down 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth after Hampton hit an inside-the-park grand slam in the top half of the inning. With two outs,
Ana Rodriguez tripled home
Bri Lawson from first base to put the Hawks on the board.
Abby Warner then followed with her second home run of the season, a titanic blast to left field that cleared the wall with ease.
The very next inning,
Tessa Thompson led off with a double off the top of the wall, and, after Gianna Scotti came in to pinch run for her, Dabroski (2-for-3, 2 RBI, BB) lined a single into left field to tie the game at four.
Monmouth starting pitcher
Billie Kerwood worked in and out of trouble in the sixth and seventh, but got three of her 10 strikeouts in those frames to send the contest to the bottom of the seventh. It marks the second time this season Kerwood has reached double-digit punchouts in a single game, with the first coming against Akron on Feb. 25.
Thompson and
Lexi Castaneda led off the inning with singles, and after a loud first out of the inning by
Savannah Simons, Dabroski singled up the middle. Freshman
Gabby Gesualdo subbed in as a pinch runner for Thompson and scored standing up from second on Dabroski's single to give the Hawks their second win in CAA play and eighth overall for 2024.
QUOTES
"Today was an awesome, gritty win. We got ourselves into an early hole and just fought back. When Abby hit that homer, it really set the tone that we were not going to go away without a fight.
I thought Billie continued to attack their hitters and got better as the game went on. She put us in a position to win, and Dani came through in the big moments at the plate. We are looking forward to coming back out on our home field tomorrow." – Head Coach
Shannon Salsburg
NOTES & NUMBERS
- Kerwood recorded her second complete game victory as many games.
- Kerwood improves to 6-7 in the circle this season.
- Dabroski is 6-for-10 over the course of a four-game hitting streak.
- Warner is MU's active HR leader with 13.
- Four of Rodriguez's 10 hits have gone for extra bases.
- Thompson is third on the team with three doubles.
- Monmouth leads the all-time series, 3-1.
- Monmouth left five runners on base on the day, while Hampton left seven.
UP NEXT
The Hawks and Lady Pirates meet for game two of the three game series on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
