Wayne, NJ – Montclair State and William Paterson are separated by a very close proximity, nine miles to be exact. On Tuesday, the two were even closer on the scoreboard. However for the Red Hawks they would be on the wrong end of both contests as MSU fell twice losing 2-1 and 5-4. The losses dropped MSU to 14-8 on the season, 2-4 in the NJAC.
In the opener, WPU's Sarah Byrnes and MSU's
VALENTINA CUCCI hooked up in a pitcher's duel trading zeros on the board until the bottom of the fifth when the Pioneers struck for two runs.
Ryan Tighe doubled with two outs and Andee Lupica followed with a base hit back through the middle scoring the game's first run. A second error by the Red Hawks allowed Lupica to score giving the Pioneers a 2-0 advantage.
Montclair State cut that lead in half in the sixth.
KAYLEE POWERS led off the inning with a double down the left field line. Two batters and two outs later, Cucci helped her own cause with a double making the score 2-1.
In the seventh,
VICTORIA GEHRING singled to open the inning and was sacrificed to second.
LIA STAMILE then launched a long fly ball down the left field line that was caught on the warning track as Gehring moved up 60 feet to third base. But Byrnes ended the game with a strikeout as the hosts captured the one-run victory.
Byrnes improved to 11-4 as she gave up three hits in the complete-game effort. She struck out seven and walked one. Cucci (3-1) suffered her first loss allowing six hits with one strikeout.
In the second game, Montclair took a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
ELENA RADESICH singled home Powers with the first run and Gehring's RBI gave the Red Hawks a 2-0 lead. WPU got a run back in its half of the first but Montclair State pushed the lead to 3-1 in the fourth on a run-scoring single through the right side.
William Paterson erupted for four runs in the fifth to take the lead. The Red Hawks cut the deficit to a run in the seventh on a two-out RBI single by Radeisch and put the tying run on. But Byrnes, who came on in the fifth inning, kept the runner there with a foul pop up to end the game.
Radesich had two hits for MSU.
The Red Hawks go right back to work on Thursday with another NJAC doubleheader. Montclair will be at Alumni Field in Newark, NJ for a 3:00 pm matchup with Rutgers-Newark. The twinbill is a rescheduled contest from last Saturday.
