Kissimmee, FL – Freshman righthander
COURTNEY POLITZ tossed six solid innings leading Montclair to a 4-2 victory over St. Joseph's (LI) as the Red Hawks split two contests at the Rebel Spring Games on Thursday.
Freshman
ALEX ZULLA and
KAYLEE POWERS each drove in two runs on the day as Montclair is now 4-4 on the year following an 11-3 loss to Muskingum University later in the day. The Red Hawks wrap up their appearance in the Rebel Spring Games with contests against Bridgewater College and Cornell College.
Politz improved to 2-1 on the year as she allowed one earned run and four hits, striking out five and walking one.
Despite the solid outing, Politz found herself in a 2-0 deficit after the Eagles (0-3) scored twice in the second inning on an RBI single by Lyndsay Smocer with an error allowing the second run to score.
The Red Hawks would get those runs back in the bottom of the third. Powers reached on a one-out error and stole second.
NOEL HODGINS singled to put runners at the corners and then got into scoring position with a steal. Zulla delivered a singled scoring both as MSU tied the game at 2-2.
Montclair took the lead the following inning. Samantha DiClementi led off with single which was followed by a base hit from
ALANA LUNA. Both moved up on a sacrifice with DiClementi coming home on a sacrifice fly by Powers. The Red Hawks added the final run in the fifth as
ELENA RADESICH doubled in
BLAKE SAPERSTEIN, who reached on a one-out walk.
Politz ran into some trouble in the seventh when St. Joseph's put the first two runners on. But freshman
KIARA RUIZ came on to retire the next three hitters to pick up her first career save.
Hodgins and DiClementi had two hits apiece for MSU.
In the second game, Montclair trailed 1-0 but took the lead in the third. Powers singled home the first run and a double from Saperstein put MSU in front 2-1. But the Muskies exploded for nine runs in its half of the third Kylie Ziefer and Abigail Orr each drove in two runs in the frame.
Montclair's final run came courtesy of Powers, who homered in the fifth inning.