Glassboro, NJ (4/28/07) –Sophomore shortstop JENNIFER JIMENEZ (Linden, NJ/Linden) belted her 11th home run in the opener and then singled home the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh in Game 2 as sixth-ranked Montclair State claimed the No. 1 seed and will host the upcoming NJAC Tournament with a sweep of Rowan University on Saturday afternoon, 3-0 and 7-6.

The Red Hawks will host the six-team, double-elimination NJAC Tournament beginning on Tuesday, May 1 as it wil face the yet to be determined No. 6 seed at 4:00 pm.

Montclair is now 34-4 on the year and finished with its best conference slate in program history at 16-2. Rowan falls to 21-15, 9-9 in the league as the Profs remain in a battle for one of the last remaining spots in the field. MSU needed just a split in the doubleheader entering the day to earn the No. 1 seed.

The first round of the conference tournament will be contested with single games as the sites of the Top 3 seeds. The entire tournament then shifts to MSU for the remainder of the tournament on Friday, May 4 through Sunday, May 6. The winner of the NJAC Tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.

Junior righthander CAROLYN MCCREA (Wharton, NJ/Jefferson) tossed a two-hit shutout in game one - her 11th of the season - and then picked up the win in relief in the second as she raised her record to 26-3, the most wins by an MSU picther since Sue McCarville was 27 in 1999. McCrea struck out seven on the day to give her 189 for the year, one less than Sharon Orsmbee's single-season mark of 190 set in 1997.

In Game 1, McCrea and Amanda Reigel (Millville, NJ/Sacred Heart) traded zeroes through the first four innings before Montclair State broke on top in the fifth with two runs as Jimenez connected on her 28th career home run, a two-run shot that also gave her 100 RBI for her brief MSU career. The Red Hawks added a run in the seventh as JACKIE FERRANTI (Bergenfield, NJ/Bergenfield) tripled with one out and scored on MAUREEN SHOCKLEY's (Magnolia, NJ/Triton) sacrifice fly.

That would be all McCrea would need as she allowed two singlesm struck out three and walked one batter while facing five batters over the minimum.

Ferranti and KELLY NANCE (Marlboro, NJ/Marlboro) each had two hits for the Red Hawks.

In the nightcap, the Red Hawks would jump out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Nance brought home the first run with a ground out and KELLY KARP (Edison, NJ/Edison) and AMANDA LIVSEY (Congers, NY/Clarkstown North) each added RBI singles.

Rowan would get a run back in the third and take the lead in the fourth with four runs, two coming on Jen Lake's (Carneys' Point, Penns Grove) RBI single to take a 5-3 lead.

Montclair would get the game tied with single runs in the fifth and sixth. Ferranti cracked her sixth home run of the year in the fifth and Nance's RBI single the following inning tied the game at 5-5.

Rowan would go back on top in the top of the seventh with an unearned run as Lake doubled with one out and scored on an error as the Profs led, 7-6.

In the bottom of the seventh. Livsey drew a leadoff walk and pinch-runner ASHLEY LUSTENBERGER (River Edge, NJ/River Dell) advanced to second on a wild pitch and went to third on a successful sacrifice. MEGAN DURKIN (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) then singled to bring home Lustenberger and smartly took second on the throw home. After the second out, Durkin went to third on a ground ball and easily scored as Jiemenez singled for the game-winning run.

The rally made a winner of McCrea for the second time as she recorded the final 10 outs allowing three hits with four strikeouts.

Jimenez and Karp each finished 3-for-4 for the Red Hawks while Shockley and MEGAN TANTUM (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) had two hits apiece.