Glassboro, NJ – The Montclair State softball team was hoping the third time would be the charm. But that turned out not to be the case as the fifth-seeded Red Hawks fell to No. 2 seed Rowan 6-1 in the NJAC Softball Tournament on Tuesday.
The loss sends the Red Hawks (28-13) into the elimination bracket where it will face sixth-seeded Stockton University on Friday, May 3 at The College of New Jersey with first pitch set for 11am. The Ospreys pushed top-seeded TCNJ to the limit before falling 3-2 in Ewing.
On Saturday, MSU dropped both games to the Profs in its regular-season finale including a heart-breaking loss in Game 1. But Rowan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in its first at bat. Back-to-back singles by Carly Anderson and Jess DeDomenico put runners at second and third. After a fly out, Kelly Duffy lofted a sacrifice fly scoring Anderson with the first run. Morgan Zane followed with a double bringing home DeDomenico.
Montclair cut that deficit in half in the fifth.
KAYLEE POWERS singled to third and advanced to second when the throw got away. A wild pitch by allowed Powers to get to third and she scampered home as
BLAKE SAPERSTEIN singled to right making the score 2-1.
Rowan answered in its half. Cassandra Gerard singled and Duffy followed with a base hit. Zane lined a double to left center scoring both runners putting the Profs up 4-1. The Profs tacked on two more in the sixth. Gerard was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home one run with Duffy drawing a walk plating the second.
DeDomenico (16-5) got the victory as she scattered eight hits, striking out four and walking two.
VALENTINA CUCCI (8-4) took the loss for Montclair State.
LIA STAMILE and
TAYLOR BROWN had two hits apiece for the Red Hawks.
The meeting with Stockton on Friday will be the third with the teams splitting a doubleheader in Galloway, NJ on March 30. MSU captured the first game 2-1 before the Ospreys earned the split with a 10-7 victory in the second contest. It will also mark the third time the two will square off in the NJAC Tournament. MSU won the first meeting in 1990 and they would not meet again until 2014 with the Red Hawks posting a 2-0 victory. Stockton captured the most recent contest, 3-2 at Kean University in 2017.
