Montclair St. Trips Up Virginia Wesleyan in Winners' Bracket Final

Montclair St. Trips Up Virginia Wesleyan in Winners' Bracket Final

Marlins to Play in Elmination Game on Sunday

MONTCLAIR, N.J. --- Alex Hill (Parsippany, N.J./Parsippany Hills) singled up the middle in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday to send in the winning run as No. 1 seeded Montclair State University slipped past No. 3 seeded Virginia Wesleyan College 2-1 in the winner's bracket final of the NCAA's Montclair Regional in softball.

Hill's was only the third hit the Red Hawks (44-3) could must off VWC pitcherMackenzie Creech (Hillsborough, N.C./Orange).  But, MSU recorded two of those hits in the seventh as D Amato led off with a double to left center.  She advanced to third on a wild pitch before pinch runner Sam Camacho (Jersey City, N.J./County Prep) entered.  Camacho scored on Hill's single.

Montclair State advances to Sunday's championship game at a time to be announced.  Virginia Wesleyan will play again as well on Sunday at a time to be announced.  The Marlins (40-7) will faced the winner of a Sunday, 12 p.m. game between DeSales University (30-11-1) and Susquehanna University (39-8). The winner of the VWC game will take on MSU for the Regional title.

Virginia Wesleyan lead early in Saturday's game when Kelly Keys(Manassas/Osbourn Park) single to left, scoring Andrea Shannon(Newville, Pa./Big Spring).  Shannon singled up the middle with two outs to keep the Marlins moving in the inning.  Tori Higginbotham (Glen Allen/J.R. Tucker) drew a walk and Keys followed with the RBI single.

After nearly a three-hour rain delay, and VWC leading 1-0, the game resumed and the Marlins held onto the lead until the bottom of the sixth.  Melany Zeller (Bloomfield, N.J./Bloomfield) led off the inning with a double to left center and C Whittlick entered to pinch run.  Kelli O'Brien (Edison, N.J./Edison) sacrificed to move the runner to third and Katie Muglia (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) hit a sacrifice fly to score the game-tying run.

Creech pitched the distance for VWC and struck out seven batters.  She walked only one and allowed just three hits.

Hill pitched for MSU and struck out nine Marlins.  She walked one and gave up three hits.

--- This release is courtesy of the Virginia Wesleyan College sports information department. ---
www.vwcathletics.com