Little Falls, NJ (5/4/07) – Sophomore third baseman Ana Abourashed (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) belted a solo home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning as fourth-seeded William Paterson upset No. 1 seed and fourth-ranked Montclair State, 5-4, in Game 5 of the 2007 New Jersey Athletic Conference Softball Championship at the MSU Softball Stadium on Friday afternoon.

April Sardinas-Wyssling (Plainsboro, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) had two hits and an RBI for William Paterson (24-14), which entered the game with a loss in the tournament. The Pioneers remain alive and will leave five teams in the tournament after the second day of games. WPU will face Rowan University in the first of three games on Saturday, May 5 at 11:00 am. The Pioneers and Profs split the season series with each other back on April 3 as William Paterson won 9-3 in the opener before the Profs posted a 13-0 victory in the nightcap.

Sophomore centerfielder MAUREEN SHOCKLEY (Magnolia, NJ /Triton) had a three-run homer for Montclair State (35-5), which had its 11-game winning streak snapped with the loss. The Red Hawks will take on Ramapo in the middle contest at 1:30 pm on Saturday.

After William Paterson set down MSU in order in the top of the ninth, the Pioneers saw the first two hitters retired on a fly out and ground out. Abourashed then stepped to the plate and connected for her sixth home run of the season over the left-centerfield fence to give William Paterson the victory and measure of revenge against the Red Hawks. WPU dropped a doubleheader to Montclair, 3-0 and 10-3 at the MSU Softball Stadium on April 24.

The home run made a winner out of Diana Schraer (Paramus, NJ/Paramus), who upped her record to 18-5. Schrarer allowed 13 hits in the nine innngs and four runs, striking out six and walking one. Junior righthander CAROLYN MCCREA (Wharton, NJ/Jefferson) suffered the loss. McCrea (27-4) surrendered 10 hits and five runs as she fanned seven and walked six.

Montclair State took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI single by MEGAN TANTUM (Ewing, NJ/Ewing), however William Paterson would answer with two runs in the bottom of the inning as Alicia Albert (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) singled home one run and Abourashed lofted a sacrifice fly for the second run. The Pioneers would tack on a run in the fifth on an RBI triple by Christina Zippler (Blackwood, NJ/Washington Township) for a 3-1 lead.

The Red Hawks took the lead in the top of the sixth. MEGAN DURKIN (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) and JACKIE FERRANTI (Bergenfield, NJ/Bergenfield) smacked back-to-back singles, bringing up Shockley, who deposited a ball over the right field fence to give Montclair State a 4-3 lead. The lead would be short-lived as in the bottom of the inning Sardinas-Wyssling collected an RBI single to tie the game at 4-all.

Jessica Reibis (Jackson, NJ/Jackson) was 3-for-4 for William Paterson while Ferranti, Tantum and KELLY NANCE (Marlboro, NJ/Marlboro) each had two hits for Montclair State, which out-hit the Pioneers, 13-10 in the game.