Montclair, NJ – Junior catcher Alisha Cumberton (Toms River, NJ, Toms River East) and sophomore first baseman Alisha Cumberton (Toms River, NJ, Toms River East) each drove in a pair of runs as second-seeded Montclair State slipped past No. 5 seed William Paterson, 4-2 in the opening round of the NJAC Softball Championship on Tuesday afternoon.

Junior righthander Alex Hill (Parsippany, NJ, Parsippany Hills) picked up her 30th win of the season and broke her own single-season mark for strikeouts as the Red Hawks (38-3) advanced and will face No. 3 seed The College of New Jersey on Friday, May 3 at Rowan University with game time set for 3:00 pm.

Christina Austin (Sewell, NJ / Washington Township) had two hits and a run batted in for the Pioneers (19-20), who will face fifth-seedd Kean University in an elimination contest on Friday at 11:00 am.

After splitting a doubleheader last week, the Red Hawks took the third meeting of the year grabbing a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

Second baseman Katie Muglia (South Plainfield, NJ, South Plainfield) drew a walk to start the inning and centerfielder Jamie Paulino (Linden, NJ, Linden) singled before both runners moved to second and third on a sacrifice by third baseman Dana Amato (Hillsdale, NJ, Pascack Valley). Petrucelli lifted a fly ball to centerfield scoring Muglia and Cumberton followed with the first of her two giving the Red Hawks a 2-0 advantage.

William Paterson battled back to tie the game scoring a run in the second third innings. Austin doubled home Kelsey Wimmershoff (Park Ridge, NJ / Park Ridge) in the second to make the score 2-1 and an error in the third on Kelsey Principe's (Parsippany, NJ / Parsippany) ground ball plated another as the Pioneers evened the game at 2-2.

WPU put together a rally in the fifth as Samantha Mulderig (Sewell, NJ / Washington Township) reached second with two outs. Lachelle Rouse (Pine Hill / Overbrook Senior) singled to left field however MSU's Kelli O'Brien (Edison, NJ, Edison) came up with a huge throw to nail Mulderig at the plate ending the inning and keeping the game deadlocked.

Montclair used that big play as a spark, taking the lead in the bottom of the frame. Jaclyn Allegretta (Hackensack, NJ, Hackensack) led off with a base hit and went to second on a sacrifice and to third as Paulino lined a base hit to left. Amato was intentionally walked to load the bases and Montclair was able to capitalize. Petrucelli hit a ground ball that was misplayed allowed Allegretta to score. Cumberton brought home Paulino with another sac fly for a 4-2 Red Hawks advantage.

Hill made that hold up as she retired six of the final seven hitters she faced. Hill improved to 30-3 on the season as she allowed one earned run and six hits. She walked one and struck out seven raising her season total to 342 surpassing her record of 338 set last season.

Righthander Kerrin Dys (North Arlington, NJ / North Arlington) took the loss falling to 5-9. Dys gave up two earned run and five hits in 4 2/3 innings of work.

Paulino finished 3-for-3 at the plate for Montclair State while Mulderig had two hits for the Pioneers.