WAYNE, N.J. (5/2/14) – Sophomore Tiffany Varriello had all three RBIs as the No. 24 Kean University softball team topped No. 5 Montclair State University to become the last unbeaten team at the NJAC Championship.
The second-seeded Red Hawks struck early with an unearned run in the top of the first; Brooke Powers and Dana Amato had hits in the frame for Montclair. Kean starter Courtney Yard settled in after that and retired 11-straight MSU hitters through the fifth.
But Montclair starter Alex Hill was even better; she struck out seven in the first three innings, though Sandra Binkiewicz and Megan Cegielski both had singles in that time. Binkiewicz smoked a line-drive to centerfield and Cegielski laid down a picture-perfect bunt right on the thirdbase line.
In the fourth Yard got some help for her 11th-straight out. Secondbaseman Emily Sabo made a great diving stop on a hotshot to her left, rolled over to throw and got the runner by a step to end the inning.
In the home half of the fourth, Binkiewicz began with her second hit of the game and Yard earned a walk to put two on with nobody out. Kelly Moorehead (pictured left) singled to left, but Kean had a runner gunned down at the plate on the play.
With one out but two runners still on, Varriello delivered the biggest hit of her career with an RBI single over the secondbaseman that tied the game for the Cougars.
A leadoff error in the fifth ended Yard's consecutive-out streak, and a fielder's choice that did not result in an out created a jam for Yard.
The Cougars got an out on a sacrifice, and Yard got a huge strikeout for out number two. A groundball to Sabo stranded two runners in scoring position with the game still tied.
With Kean now batting, Yard led off the home half of the sixth with a walk and Moorehead followed with a line-drive double to the rightfield wall, putting two on with nobody out for Varriello. The first baseman may have just had the biggest knock of her career in the fourth, but now came up with an even more clutch hit. With two strikes, Varriello drove an outside offering into the right-centerfield gap for a two-RBI double that gave the Cougars a 3-1 lead.
Kean allowed a lone run in the seventh but hung on to win the game 3-2 and advance to the NJAC semifinals tomorrow.
The Cougars will take on the winner of tomorrow morning's Montclair State / Rutgers-Camden tilt at 2 p.m. on Saturday. It will be the only game of the tripleheader day for Kean.
