Montclair, NJ – The Montclair softball team needed just one win to clinch a spot in the NJAC Tournament heading into its twinbill with The College of New Jersey on Saturday. The Red Hawks went out and got two as Montclair swept the Lions 6-1 and 14-6 at the MSU Softball Stadium.

Catcher ALANA LUNA drove in three runs in the first game with freshman ELENA RADESICH driving in five during the nightcap as the Red Hawks closed out their regular season at 22-16, 9-9 in conference play. MSU will be the No. 6 seed in the NJAC Tournament which begins on Tuesday.

Montclair will face top-seeded Ramapo College in the first round on May 2 in Mahwah, NJ at 4:00 pm. The Red Hawks dropped a pair of one-run games to the Roadrunners on Tuesday, 4-3 and 8-7. Following Tuesday's contest the remainder of the NJAC Tournament shifts to Kean University for the remainder of the weekend.

TCNJ's Danielle Carey gave the Lions (14-17-1, 6-11-1) a 1-0 lead in the first game on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Montclair State answered with three runs in its half of the inning. Samantha DiClementi tied the game with an RBI single and Luna followed with a two-run double for a 3-1 advantage.

MSU added three more runs in the fifth to take a five-run lead. LIA STAMILE drew a walk with the bases loaded to force in a run and VICTORIA GEHRING added a sacrifice fly. Luna brought home the final run with an infield single.

Freshman righthander KIARA RUIZ (3-1) pitched a complete game allowing six hits, striking out two and walking three. Sam Platt (7-12) took the loss for TCNJ.

New Jersey got the early lead in the second game scoring twice in the first inning on an RBI double by Carey and a run-scoring single by Gaby Bennett. The Red Hawks countered with six runs in the bottom of the inning. Radesich doubled in the first run and bases loaded walks to BLAKE SAPERSTEIN and Gehring put MSU in front 3-2. Luna was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in another run and KAYLEE POWERS walked bringing in another making the score 5-2. NOEL HODGINS plated the final Montclair run with an infield single.

Radesich's two-run double in the third extended the lead to 8-2 but the Lions halved the deficit in the fourth scoring twice. Montclair answered with three in its half as Luna doubled in the first run with Radeisch plating two more with a single for an 11-4 advantage.

Jess Maguire's two-run single in the fifth pulled the Lions within 11-6. DiClementi had an RBI double in the fifth and RBI singles by VALENTINA CUCCI and Stamile closed out the game in the sixth inning.
SAM KEATING got the victory upping her record to 8-5.

The Red Hawks pounded out 17 hits. Hodgins was 4-for-5 while Powers went 3-for-3 with four runs scored. Radesich was 3-for-4 and Stamile went 3-for-5.