Montclair, NJ – Sophomore righthander Alex Hill (Parsippany, NJ, Parsippany Hills), the NJAC Pitcher of the Year, gave up four hits in tossing her 14th shutout of the season as top-seeded and 12th-ranked Montclair State advanced in the NJAC Softball Tournament with a 1-0 victory over No. 4 seed William Paterson at the MSU Softball Stadium on Friday.

Senior rightfielder Stephanie Szeliga (South Plainfield, NJ, South Plainfield) scored all the way from first base on a two-out single by Shannon Mozek (Wayne, NJ, Wayne Valley) as the Red Hawks (37-5) move to 2-0 in the tournament. MSU will face either No. 5 seed and two-time defending champion Kean University or third-seeded and No. 16 Rowan on Saturday at 10:00 am with the winner moving one win away from clinching the conference title and automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship.

Rachel Cannata (Waldwick, NJ / Paramus Catholic) suffered a hard-luck loss for the Pioneers (30-12) who were eliminated from the tournament with their second consecutive one-run loss. William Paterson fell at Rowan 2-1 at Glassboro during Tuesday's opening round.

Hill, who was also named the league's Player of the Year on Thursday, collected her 14th shutout of the season and second against the Pioneers in less than a week as she improved to 25-2. She struck out five and walked one as she tied the MSU single-season mark for shutouts matching Dina DeAquino's mark set in 1986 and duplicated in 1988.

Hill was locked in a pitcher's duel with Cannata, who blanked Montclair State in the second game of last week's doubleheader, 2-0. Each would hold off threats through the first three innings.

In the first William Paterson's Christina Austin (Sewell, NJ / Washington Township) walked and stole second with one out however a line drive double play ended that threat. Hill would reach third with two outs in the second but was stranded and Cannata got out of tight spot in the third as Montclair left the bases loaded.

The Pioneers threatened again in the third as a hit batter and field error put runners on the corners with two out. But Hill got a comebacker to the circle and elected to get the out at home to end the inning as the game remained scoreless.

Montclair State would break the tie in the top of the sixth. After getting the leadoff runner on, a pair of fielder's choices left MSU with a runner still at first with two outs. Mozek then lifted a fly ball to right-centerfield that eventually dropped in. Szeliga, running all the way on the contact, kept going and scored for a 1-0 Montclair lead.

That turned out to be the game's only scoring as Hill fought off a threat by the Pioneers in the bottom of the seventh. A pair of two-out singles put the tying run in scoring position, but Hill ended the game with a fly out to Mozek giving Montclair State the one-run victory.

Cannata took the loss falling to 6-5. She struck out three and walked four giving up eight hits and the one run.

Mozek and Dana Amato (Hillsdale, NJ, Pascack Valley) had two hits apiece for the Red Hawks.