Fort Myers, FL (3/15/06) – Senior Athanaisa Totaro homered in the opener then picked up her fifth win of the season in the second game as Montclair State closed out action at the Gene Cusic Classic with a pair of wins on Friday.
The Red Hawks defeated Bowdoin (ME), 10-1 before slipping past Western New England, 4-3 in nine innings. Montclair State improved to 9-1 on the season, the third consecutive season that MSU has opened the year with that mark. The Red Hawks are also 44-6 at the Classic since 2002.
Against Bowdoin, Montclair State fell behind, 1-0 after the first inning, but tied the game in the second as
JENNA WEISS walked and scored on a double by
CHERYL BODAK. MSU took the lead the following inning as Crystal Dahlhaus scored on a wild pitch and Weiss singled home a run for a 3-1 advantage.
Montclair would increase the lead in the fourth with four runs – two coming from Totaro, who launched her second home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field. Two batters later
JENNIFER JIMENEZ connected for the first of two round-trippers in the game, another two run blast that gave Montclair State a 7-1 lead. Dahlhaus added an RBI single in the fifth and Montclair closed out the scoring in the sixth. Jimenez hit her sixth home run of the season, a solo shot to lead off the inning and
MEGAN TANTUM collected and RBI single.
Righthander
CAROLYN MCCREA was the benefit of the offensive outburst as she improved to 3-1 on the year. McCrea just a single and one unearned run while striking out four and walking none.
Totaro, Jimenez, Bodak and Tantum each had two hits for the Red Hawks, who registered 14 in the game
In the second game MSU would rally for a run in the bottom of the seventh to force the extra innings. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Jimenez tripled to lead off the inning and scored as
JACKIE FERRANTI singled. The game remained tied until the ninth. Using the tiebreaker,
MAUREEN SHOCKLEY began the inning at second base and moved to third as Jimenez singled. Jimenez then stole second and an error on the play allowed Shockley to score the winning run.
The teams traded runs in the fourth with Montclair State getting theirs as Weiss and Bodak walked. Tantum then singled to drive home Weiss. The Red Hawks took the lead in the fifth as Totaro walked and Shockley singled before Jimenez sacrificed both runners over. Ferranti then drove in Totaro with a ground out.
Totaro upped her record to 5-0 as she went the distance giving up eight hits and three runs (one earned) with seven strikeouts and two walks. Jimenez was 2-for-4 for MSU.
Montclair State now returns home and will next be in action on Tuesday, March 28 as they host John Jay College at the MSU Softball Stadium. First pitch of that doubleheader is scheduled for 3:00 pm.
