Montclair, NJ – Sophomore shortstop
AMBER POWERS homered in both games and finished 4-for-4 with three RBI as Montclair State swept past College of Mount St. Vincent in its home opener on Tuesday afternoon.
LIA STAMILE and
BLAKE SAPERSTEIN each collected home runs as the Red Hawks (9-3) knocked off the Dolphins (3-9), 8-0 and 9-1. MSU extended its win streak to six.
In the opener, Powers went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a pair of RBI as Montclair State pounded out 13 hits. Stamile had two hits and two RBI with
TAYLOR BROWN and
KAYLEE POWERS getting two
hits and a run batted in apiece. Righthander
VALENTINA CUCCI, who had two RBI, pitched five shutout innings to win for the second time in as many starts (2-0). Cucci allowed five hits and struck out three.
Cucci provided the only run she needed in the bottom of the first with an RBI single that scored
AMBER POWERS. Stamile drilled a solo shot in the second with Amber Power's two-run homer extending the lead to 4-0. Stamile singled home a run in the third with Brown added a run-scoring triple widening the lead to 6-0.
KAYLEE POWERS and Cucci accounted for the final runs in the sixth on an RBI double and run-scoring single, respectively.
Sapertein gave Montclair a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the night cap with her second home run of the season. The Red Hawks added five runs in the second.
ELENA RADESICH walked with the bases loaded and Saperstein followed with an RBI single for a 3-0 advantage. Brown's two-run single made it a five-run advantage before a Samantha DiClementi RBI single put the Red Hawks up 6-0.
AMBER POWERS crushed her second home run in the fourth before CMSV finally got on the board in the fifth. Brown and
ALI WALEK each drove in a run in the fifth for the final margin.
Righthander
KAYLA VOLANTE (2-0) got the victory as she went the first four innings allowing a run and seven hits with two strikeouts and a walk. Cucci, Saperstein, DiClementi and Brown all had two hits each for MSU.
The Red Hawks are back in action on Thursday, March 21 at the MSU Softball Stadium against Centenary University with first pitch of the doubleheader scheduled for 3:00 pm.