Little Falls, NJ (05/10/03) - Top-seeded host and three-time defending champion Montclair State University has advanced to the championship game of the double-elimination 2003 ECAC Division III South Softball Championships, which began today at the Quarry Field on the MSU campus.

Montclair State (35-9) edged second-seeded Rutgers-Camden, 5-4, tonight in eight innings to advance to the championship game for the fourth consecutive year. Rutgers-Camden (27-10-1) will now play third-seeded Drew University (27-12) tomorrow at 10 a.m., with the winner of that meeting going on to face Montclair for the title at noon. (If necessary, a second title game will follow the first one.)

Rutgers-Camden defeated Drew, 3-1, earlier today after MSU had blanked fourth-seeded Richard Stockton College, 1-0, in the first game of the morning. Drew then eliminated Richard Stockton (23-15-1) by a 4-3 score.

MSU junior pinch-runner ALLISON KREISS (Lakewood, NJ) scored her second-straight game-winning run in the contest with Rutgers-Camden, after previously tallying the only run of the game against Stockton.

Kreiss started off from second base via extra-inning tiebreaker rules, went to third base on an error, and scored off a single up the middle by sophomore outfielder JOELLE FATA (Bloomfield, NJ), who finished 2-for-4. Junior pitcher CRYSTAL SWEENEY (Edison, NJ) picked up both wins today for MSU, improving to 21-6 this season in striking out eight batters and allowing just four hits over eight complete innings.

Junior catcher ALLISON COONEY (Gloucester, NJ) was 2-for-3 with a run and two runs batted in to pace the Scarlet Raptors, who battled back from 3-0 and 4-3 deficits to send the game into extra innings.

Drew, which fell to MSU in last year's ECAC South Championship game, scored four times in the first inning of its game today with Richard Stockton, and then held off a three-run rally to eliminate the Ospreys. Sophomore pitcher ALISON ROBBINS (Phillipsburg, NJ) walked two batters and struck out three while surrendering six hits over seven innings.

Catcher DEBBIE WAZ (Higganum, CT) hit 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI to guide the Rangers offensively, while Stockton senior shortstop LORENA DeMEO (Edison, NJ) finished 2-for-3 at the plate and drove in two runs for the Ospreys.