Fort Myers, FL (3/15/07) – Senior catcher Megan Tatum (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) homered in each game while junior righthander CAROLYN MCCREA (Wharton, NJ/Jefferson) struck out 18 batters in recording a pair of wins as Montclair State closed out its appearance at the Gene Cusic Classic with two victories on Thursday. MSU blanked Albion (MI), 8-0 before topping New England College, 7-2 to finish 8-2 on their trip to Florida.

Against Albion, McCrea allowed just one hit – a double in the third inning – and struck out five as she improved to 5-1 on the season. The Red Hawks provided all of the offense in the top of the second as it sent 10 batters to the plate and scored all eight runs.

Tantum began the inning with a single and scored as WHITNEY DRIVER (Montville, NJ/Morristown-Beard) drove a base hit to right field for the first run of the game. KELLY KARP ( Edison, NJ/Edison) would later score on a passed ball and JENNIFER JIMENEZ ( Linden, NJ/ Linden) extended the lead to five as she collected a bases-loaded triple. AMANDA LIVSEY (Congers, NY/Clarkstown North) brought home Jimenez for the sixth run and Tantum capped off the inning with a two-run shot, her first of the season.

Jimenez, Tantum and Karp each had two hits for Montclair State.

In the second game, Montclair broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning as Tantum singled to lead off the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice and third on a ground out before scoring on KELLY NANCE's (Marlboro, NJ/Marlboro) double to left field. The duo would combine for the second run in the sixth inning with Nance once again cracking a double to score Tantum, who drew a lead off walk.

MSU then broke the game open with a five-run seventh innings. Tantum provided three of the runs with one swing of the bat as she belted her second round-tripper in as many games to make the score, 7-0. Jimenez also had a run-scoring single in the inning and Nance's RBI single to center accounted for the final Red Hawk run.

McCrea notched her second victory of the day as she struck out 13 batters while allowing two runs and five hits. McCrea is now 6-1 on the season.

Tantum (3-for-3) and Nance (3-for-4) each had three hits while JACKIE FERRANTI ( Bergenfield, NJ/Bergenfield), MEGAN DURKIN ( West Orange, NJ/ West Orange) and Jimenez each had two hits as the Red Hawks registered 14 in the game.

Montclair State is now off for the next nine days until the Red Hawks open their home schedule on Saturday, March 24. Montclair will host Manhattanville College at the MSU Softball Stadium with the first pitch scheduled for 1:00 pm.