Game #1 Box / Game #2 Box

Jersey City, NJ (4/6/11) – Freshmen catcher Liz Russo (Jackson, NJ / Liberty) and Alisha Cumberton (Toms River, NJ / Toms River East) each connected for home runs as Montclair State outscored New Jersey City 20-2 in a New Jersey Athletic Conferece doubleheader sweep at the Thomas M. Gerrity Complex on Wednesday afternoon.

Freshman Katie Muglia (South Plainfield, NJ / South Plainfield) drove in three runs as the Red Hawks stretched their winning streak to eight games with wins of 13-1 and 7-1 over the Gothic Knights. Montclair is now 12-4 overall, 4-0 in the NJAC.

Freshman Alex Hill (Parsippany, NJ / Parsippany Hills) improved to 7-2 on the season as she struck out nine while giving up a run and four hits. Hill retired 13 of the first 15 batters she faced.

Despite Hill’s performance, the Red Hawks could not get a run across until the fourth inning. Dana Amato (Hillsdale, NJ / Pascack Valley) walked and Kelli O’Brien (Edison, NJ / Edison) was hit by a pitch. After a strikeout, Cumberton lined a two-run double down the left field line as MSU led 2-0.

In the bottom of the inning, NJCU came within inches of cutting that lead in half, however Leslie Gonzalez (North Bergen, NJ / North Bergen) pulled back a potential home run at the fence as Montclair State maintained its two-run lead.

Muglia added an RBI single in the fifth to give Montclair a 3-0 lead and the Red Hawks exploded for 10 runs in the sixth to put the game away. Hill helped out her own cause with an RBI single and Stephanie Szeliga (South Plainfield, NJ / South Plainfield) drove in a run before Muglia brought home two runs with a base hit. Amato and O’Brien also drove in a run and Heather Bergman (Berkeley Heights, NJ / Gov. Livingston) delivered a two-run single as Montclair State sent 14 batters to the plate in the inning.

Muglia and Amato each had two hits for the Red Hawks while O’Brien scored three times.

New Jersey City would get out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning of Game Two but Montclair responded with two runs in its half of the inning despite not having a hit. Jamie Paulino (Linden, NJ / Linden) reached on an error with two outs, stole second and came around to score on a pair of wild pitches knotting the game at 1-1. Priscilla Camacho (Jersey City, NJ / County Prep), who walked also scored on a wild pitch as Montclair State led 2-1.

The Red Hawks then turned to their defense with double plays in each of the next two innings before Cumberton extended the lead to 3-1 with a solo shot, her second of the year in the fifth.

Montclair tacked on four runs in the sixth, three coming off the bat of Russo, who launched her second round-tripper of the year as MSU led 7-1.

The proved to be more than enough for sophomore righty Jamie Miller (Spotswood, NJ / St. John Vianney), who upped her record to 5-2. She struck out four and walked two while giving up six hits and one run.

Montclair State goes right back to work on Thursday, April 7 as they travel to Staten Island to take on the Dolphins of CSI beginning at 3:30 pm.