Montclair, NJ – Junior righthander VALENTINA CUCCI fired a five-hit shutout in the opener and Montclair State capitalized on miscues by DeSales University late in the second as the Red Hawks swept
their doubleheader at the MSU Softball Stadium on Sunday.

LIA STAMILE, Samantha DiClementi and BLAKE SAPERSTEIN each drove in a pair of runs as MSU (13-3) posted wins of 5-0 and 7-3 to extend its winning to 11 games. Erin Redden had three hits and RBI in Game 2 for the Bulldogs (7-9).

Cucci recorded her third career shutout as she upped her record to 4-0 on the year. She gave up five singles, walked two and struck out two. AMBER POWERS collected two hits with Stamile driving in a pair of runs. Heather Hall (2-3) took the loss for DeSales.

Scoreless into the fourth, Montclair broke the tie with two runs. Powers singled to lead off the inning and got to third on a sacrifice by KAYLEE POWERS and single by Cucci. ELENA RADESICH walked to load the bases before Stamile slapped a single back through the middle scoring Powers and pinch-runner ALI WALEK for a 2-0 lead.

Montclair increased the lead to 4-0 in the fifth as ALEXIS LAW singled bringing home TAYLOR BROWN. AMBER POWERS followed with a double driving home Law. DiClementi recorded the final Red Hawk run in the sixth with an RBI single.

After being shutout in the first game, DeSales jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second contest. Erin Redden doubled in the first run and Hallie Muffley delivered the second with an RBI ground out. Montclair answered in its half as Cucci cut the lead to 2-1 on a base hit. Gianna D'Acunto pushed the Bulldogs' advantage to 3-1 in the fourth with a double down the left field line.

The Red Hawks would rally in the bottom of the fifth taking advantage of two errors by DeSales. The first came with two outs allowing Montclair to load the bases. DiClementi then battled through a nine-pitch at bat before flipping a two-run single down the right field line tying the game at 3-3. Law then bounced a grounder that was misplayed allowing Brown to score as MSU took a 4-3 advantage.

DeSales threatened to tie the game in the sixth. Redden led off with a single and stole second. Following a strikeout, she moved to third on a deep fly ball to right that DiClementi was able to haul in preventing an extra-base hit. MSU ended the threat as Saperstein tracked down Hall's fly ball in left for the final out.

Montclair tacked on three runs in the sixth for the final margin. Saperstein delivered the big hit, a two-run triple for a 6-3 lead. Brown's RBI double two pitches later accounted for the final Red Hawks run.

Freshman righthander ALYSSA BERNARDO (1-0) earned her first collegiate victory as she pitched a scoreless fifth inning after MSU took the lead. NICOLE MAJEWSKI recorded the final six outs (two strikeouts) for her first save of the season. Jill Harrison (1-2) took the loss for DeSales.

Powers, Cucci and Saperstein each had two hits for the Red Hawks.

Montclair State is back in action on Tuesday, March 26 hosting Hunter College at the MSU Softball Stadium with first pitch set for 3:00 pm.