JERSEY CITY, N.J. (3/29/15) – The No. 20 Kean University softball team finally got to play in its home state and thrashed New Jersey City University 12-0 and 13-4 on Sunday. Emily Sabo went 5-for-7 as the Cougars moved to 8-3 overall this year.

Freshman MacKenzie Valeriani (pictured left) hit her first career homerun and the first for Kean on the season; a two-run shot in the first inning of game two. She picked up a team-high four RBIs on the day. Sabo, Courtney Yard and Cayleen Rizo all scored four runs each.

Yard pitched in both games and earned the game one win, throwing a total of seven innings. She struck out 12 and walked just one Gothic Knight. She nearly had a game one no-hitter; the only knock came on a grounder up the middle in the second inning. Stephanie Gilbert threw three innings to earn the game two victory and struck out three.

The Cougars pounded out eight extra-basehits in the two games. Rizo and Kayla Parker both had two doubles. Yard and Alexis D'Aloisio had one two-bagger apiece and Sabo earned a bases-loaded, 3-RBI triple and then scampered home herself on a wild pitch in game two.

Nine different players had basehits on the day, as Kean rapped out a total of 21 over their 10 innings at bat.

The Cougars will open up their home schedule on Tuesday when they host Rutgers- Newark in NJAC action in a 3 p.m. doubleheader.