UNION, N.J. (4/25/15) – The Kean University softball team swept archrival Montclair State University in 3-2 and 8-1 games as the program celebrated Senior Day on Saturday. Senior Courtney Yard earned both wins and pitched 13 of the 14 innings while striking out 14.
Senior Alexis D'Aloisio and underclassmen Emily Sabo, Emily Bissonnette, Brooke Ennis and Amanda Berezny all had three hits on the day as the Cougars pounded out a total of 20 base knocks. Senior Stephanie Gilbert pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning in game two to close the door on Montclair.
Lauren Guillen began the tight first game with an opposite-field homerun for the Red Hawks, giving the visitors an early 1-0 lead. But Kean struck back in the home half: Sabo stroked a triple to the wall in right-centerfield, and D'Aloisio tied the game with an RBI single into rightfield.
The teams followed the same pattern in the third inning. Montclair scored an unearned run, but Kean answered right back. Tonianne DeMatteo and Sabo set the table for Bissonnette, who stroked an RBI double down the leftfield line to flip the lead and make the score 3-2 Cougars.
In the fifth frame, Montclair looked to rally when the first two batters hit weak ground balls for infield singles. Facing the top of the lineup, Yard struck out the Red Hawks' 1- and 2-hitters and then got a comebacker to the box to wiggle out of the jam.
In the seventh, an error and a double by Guillen put the game-tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second for Montclair with one out. The Red Hawks tried a squeeze play; third baseman Berezny fielded it immediately and fired to first baseman Tiffany Varriello for the second out.
Meanwhile, the runner from third was steaming home. Varriello turned and whipped the ball home to catcher Katie Garbarino, who blocked the runner from even reaching the plate as the Cougars earned the final out of the game with the unconventional double play.
Yard struck out 11 Red Hawks in the first game, including six in a row at one point.
Montclair scored first again in the second game on a sacrifice fly by Melissa Rustemeyer. But once again, the Cougars did not let them keep the lead. In fact, Kean scored in each of the next four innings to blow the game open.
Eight of the nine Kean batters had at least one hit. Ennis had all three of her hits in the second game, while D'Alosio (pictured left) led the team with two RBI's and Sabo scored two runs in the balanced attack.
The Cougars also played well on the defensive side. In the fourth, Yard pitched around two basehits and a Kean error with nobody out to keep the Red Hawks scoreless in the frame.
Kean cut down a run at the plate in the fifth. Brooke Powers hit a double with a runner on to the wall in right-centerfield. The relay team of DeMatteo, Sabo and Garbarino combined to nail the Red Hawk runner and keep them scoreless in the fifth as well.
Kean scored two in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fifth to win going away. Yard and Gilbert teamed to scatter eight hits and strike out three in the game.
The Cougars will begin the NJAC Tournament on Tuesday. They will be the fifth seed going against second-seeded Ramapo College on the road at 4 p.m.
