Fort Myers, FL (03/09/03) - The Montclair State softball team kept up their winning ways on Monday evening as they swept a pair of games at the Gene Cusic Classic. MSU defeated in-State rival Drew University, 4-2 and then blanked Haverford College, 5-0 to improve to 4-0 on their 10-game trip in Florida.
Montclair has won eight straight games dating back to last season.
In a rematch of their ECAC South Championship Game of 2002, MSU topped the Rangers again as junior righthander
CRYSTAL SWEENEY (Edison, NJ) picked up her second win in as many starts. Sweeney allowed eight hits and struck out five as he recorded her 34th career victory and 31st career complete game.
The Red Hawks built a 3-0 lead after three innings as they scored once in top of the first inning and added two run more runs in the second. After the Rangers pulled within a run in the fourth, MSU added another in the sixth inning for a 4-1 advantage.
Sophomore third baseman Cairo McDonnell (Wrightstown, NJ) collected two hits and drove in her first run of the season for MSU, which stranded 13 runners in the game. Second baseman
NICOLE PACICCO (Tinton Falls, NJ) and catcher
TONYA BARNES (Mechanicsville, VA) also added RBI's as Montclair State collected nine hits in the game.
Against Haverford, the Red Hawks posted their second shutout of the trip as the combination of pitchers
KERRY LEE (Florence, NJ/Northern Burlington) and Kristen Gervasio (Mendham, NJ/Randolph) combined to limit Haveford to just four hits in the game.
Lee went the first five innings to earn her first collegiate victory. She asllowed three hits, fanned two and walked one before giving way to Gervasio, who allowed a hit with two walks and a strikeout in her two innings of work.
Montclair took a 1-0 lead in the third and then added four more in the fourth. McDonnell drove in three with one swing of the bat as she belted her first home of the season. Pacicco had two hits and score two runs for the Red Hawks.
MSU returns to action on Wednesday, March 12 as they face Transylvania (KY) and Monmouth (IL) at 9:00 am and 11:00 am, respectively.
Last year, the Red Hawks opened their season with a 2-0 loss to Transylvania as the were held to just one hit.