Post-Game Press Conference

Montclair, NJ – Junior Alex Hill (Parsippany, NJ, Parsippany Hills) slapped a single back through the middle of the infield in the bottom of the seventh inning as top-seeded Montclair State moved within one victory of a second straight regional championship with a 2-1 victory over No. 3 seed Virginia Wesleyan at the MSU Softball Stadium on Saturday.

Hill's single pushed the Red Hawks (44-3), who tied the single-season record for victories, into the championship round. Montclair will wait for its opponent to be determined and will tentatively play on Sunday, May 12 pending the outcome of the two scheduled games.

DeSales University will meet Susquehanna University at Noon with the winner meeting Virginia Wesleyan at 2:00 pm. The winner of that contest will face the Red Hawks needing to beat MSU twice to advance to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship in Eau Claire, WI next week.

Meeting for the first time since the 1989 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional in Ewing, NJ, it felt as though the two teams would wait that long within Saturday's contest. Virginia Wesleyan held a 1-0 lead in the third inning when rain forced a delay of two-hours, 37 minutes.

The Marlins (40-7) held that lead after scoring a run before the rains came. Andrea Shannon singled back through the middle with two outs and Tori Higginbotham followed with a walk. Kelly Keys the flared a single to left field with Shann getting home just ahead of the throw as VWC led by a run.
After the delay, Marlins righthander MacKenzie Creech remained on her pre-stoppage roll setting down the first 15 Montclair State batters she faced.

In the top of the sixth, the Marlins got a leadoff single from Higginbotham, however she was picked off first base and, after a rundown, tagged out which appeared to spark the Red Hawks because in the bottom of the inning, sophomore Melany Zeller (Bloomfield, NJ, Bloomfield) belted a double against Creech ending the perfect game bid. Senior Kelli O'Brien (Edison, NJ, Edison) sacrificed pinch-runner Chantall Whittick (East Orange, NJ, Immaculate Conception) to third. After a walk to Jaclyn Allegretta (Hackensack, NJ, Hackensack), Katie Muglia (South Plainfield, NJ, South Plainfield) lifted a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Whittick as MSU tied the game at 1-1.

Hill set the side down in order in the seventh setting the stage for dramatic ninth. Junior third baseman Dana Amato (Hillsdale, NJ, Pascack Valley) drilled a 2-2 pitch for a double to lead off the inning. Hill stepped to the plate an square around to sacrifice however Creech's pitch went to the backstop with Amato taking third. Hill fell behind 1-2 in the count and fouled off a pitch before getting her game-winning hit.

Hill got the victory upping her record to 36-3 on the season. She allowed three hits, walked one and struck out nine as she surpassed the 400-strikeout mark for the season. Creech fell to 22-4 in a solid effort as she fanned seven and walked one while also giving up three hits.