Fort Myers, FL (3/19/04) - The Montclair State softball team, ranked 13th in Division III, closed out its schedule at the Gene Cusic Classic on Friday afternoon in fine fashion as it swept a pair of games from Defiance (OH) and Framingham State (MA).
The Red Hawks bounced back from a four-run deficit to beat Defiance, 5-4 before blanking Framingham, 9-0, to finish their trip 9-1. MSU is 19-1 at the Gene Cusic Classic the past two seasons and has won 24 of its last 25 at the Fort Myers tournament.
Against Defiance, the Red Hawks found themselves down, 4-0 after three innings before scoring the final five runs. In the bottom of the fourth,
MEGAN TANTUM (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) singled and moved to second on an infield base hit by
TIFFANY ACIZ (Secaucus, NJ/Secaucus).
JOELLE FATA (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) sacrificed the runners to second and third before
DIANA AUTERI (Lyndhurst, NJ/St. Mary's) lined a two-run double to cut the deficit in half.
Montclair would then take the lead in the fifth scoring three times.
NICOLE PACICCO (Tinton Falls, NJ/Monmouth Regional) stroked a two-run single to score
MEGAN SWEENEY (Edison, NJ/Edison) and
KARI MCDONNELL (Wrightstown, NJ/No. Burlington). Pacicco then came around to score as Aciz delivered and RBI single for the eventual game-winning run.
CRYSTAL SWEENEY (Edison, NJ/Edison) picked up the victory in relief. Sweeney (5-1) hurled the final five innings scattering five hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
Aciz finished 2-for-2 while Auteri collected two hits in three at-bats.
In the win over Framingham State, Auteri went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs while scoring twice and collecting a double.
MEGAN SWEENEY was 2-for-3 with an RBI while
ATHANASIA TOTARO (Roseland, NJ/West Essex), McDonnell and
DANA SPRAGUE (North Arlington, NJ/North Arlington) each had a run batted in.
CRYSTAL SWEENEY earned the victory to improve to 6-1 on the trip. Sweeney allowed five hits and struck out three before giving way to Kristen Gervasio (Mendham, NJ/Randolph), who surrendered one hits with a strikeout in the final two innings.
Montclair State returns to action on Thursday, March 25 as they host Rennsalear at 4:00 pm in the first-ever game at the new state-of-the-art Montclair State Softball Stadium.
