St. Norbert Box / Springfield Box

Kissimmee, FL (3/15/10) - Senior second baseman Megan Durkin (West Orange, NJ / West Orange) smacked a two-out, bases loaded single in the bottom of the seventh as Montclair State came back to beat Springfield College, 8-7 to gain a split of two contests at the Rebel Spring Games on Monday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, MSU fell to St. Norbert, 3-0. Montclair is now 1-3 on its 10-game Florida trip.

The Red Hawks fell behind against Springfield as the Pride put a run up on the board. However, MSU responded with five runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-1 advantage. Kelly Nance (Marlboro, NJ / Marlboro) doubled home the first run and Kelly O’Brien (Edison, NJ / Edison) was hit by a pitch with a bases loaded to force in another. Amanda Livsey (Congers, NY / Clarkstown North) added a two-run single for a 4-1 lead and O’Brien later crossed the plate on a wild pitch for the final run.

After a Springfield un in the third, Montclair answered that with a run in the fourth. Shannon Mozek (Wayne, NJ / Wayne Valley) walked to open the inning and later scored as Nance lofted a sacrifice fly to make the score 6-2.

O’Brien’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth put MSU up 7-4 with three outs to go. Montclair would get the first two, however Springfield scored three times on a pair of doubles and a base hit to tie the game at 7-7.

In the bottom of seventh, Mozek led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Springfield then walked Tori Ferrante (Edison, NJ / JP Stevens) and Heather Bergman (Berkeley Heights, NJ / Gov. Livingston) to load the bases with no one out. Springfield got the next two outs on a strikeout and force out at home but Durkin ended the game as she singled in the infield scoring Mozek with the game-winning run.

Senior righthander Elia Persico (Marlton, NJ / Cherokee) picked up the win in relief to as she improved to 2-1. Bergman, O’Brien, Livsey and Leslie Gonzalez (North Bergen, NJ / North Bergen) each had two hits for MSU, which collected 12 in the game.

Earlier in the day, Persico pitched well scattering six hits in six innings. But two swings of the bat proved to be the difference as St. Norbert’s Brieanne Oehlke belted two home runs to lift the Green Knights to the three-run victory.

Oehlke hit a solo home run to lead off the second and later added a two-run shot in the sixth to account for the game’s only scoring.

Lefthander Kayla Krueger handcuffed the Red Hawks as she allowed just four hits.  

The Red Hawks are off on Tuesday and return to action on Wednesday against Endicott and Nichols at 9:00 am and 11:00 am respectively.