Montclair, NJ – Senior third baseman Dana Amato (Hillsdale, NJ, Pascack Valley) homered and drove in four runs while junior Melissa Rustemeyer (Colonia, NJ, Colonia) had home runs in both games helping third-ranked Montclair State power past Farmingdale State 16-4 and 8-0 at the MSU Softball Stadium on Thursday.

Senior righthander Alex Hill (Parsippany, NJ, Parsippany Hills) picked up a pair of wins, striking out 15 hitters as Montclair State extended its winning streak to 15. The Red Hawks are now 15-1 overall.

MSU did all of its scoring in the first three innings of the game. Amato doubled in Lauren Guillen (Secaucus, NJ, Secaucus) three batters into the bottom of the first and Rustemeyer followed with a homer to left center for a 3-0 lead. Amato accounted for all the scoring in the second with her sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot over the left field fence.

Montclair exploded for 10 runs in the bottom of the third as 16 batters came to the plate, including Hill who had two hits in the inning. She led off with a double which would be the first of eight consecutive hits by the Red Hawks. Alisha Cumberton (Toms River, NJ, Toms River East) had an RBI double and RBI singles by Tara Petrucelli (Nutley, NJ, Nutley) and Jaclyn Allegretta (Hackensack, NJ, Hackensack) made the score 9-0.

Brooke Powers (Newton, NJ, Pope John XXIII) added an RBI double and Guillen singled before Hill helped her own cause with a run-scoring single for a 12-0 Montclair advantage. Shortstop Brianna Davidson (Monroe Township, NJ , Monroe Township) drove in a run and Petrucelli collected a second RBI of the inning before Sophia Ivezaj (Fairview, NJ, Cliffside Park) capped off the scoring with a single that scored Davidson.  The Red Hawks registered 12 hits in the inning.

Hill earned the win as she allowed a hit with 10 strikeouts. Davidson had three hits for MSU, which collected 16 in the game.

Davidson would give Montclair State a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap as her two-out RBI single scored Powers.

Farmingdale State would threaten in the fourth inning putting runners at second and third with one out, however Hill came on in relief and retired the next two batters preserving the one-run lead which became 2-0 in the bottom of the inning after Hill led off with a double. Petrucelli ground out to third and Hill, who went to third on the play, scored when the throw to get her skipped away.

Rustemeyer added two more in the fifth with her fifth home run of the year, a two-run shot over the scoreboard in left center. Montclair State closed out the game in the fifth as Petrucelli singled in one run before Powers doubled in two more to make it 7-0. Amato's RBI single accounted for the final Red Hawks run.

Hill earned the win improving to 11-1 as she struck out five in getting the final eight outs of the game. Powers and Guillen had two hits apiece for MSU.

MSU returns to action on Saturday, March 29 as the Red Hawks open defense of their NJAC Championship against Richard Stockton at 1:00 pm.