New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BOX SCORE: GAME 1 | GAME 2

MONTCLAIR, NJ, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University junior first baseman REBECCA SATZ (Morris Plains, NJ/Morristown) had a hit in each end of the doubleheader to extend her school-record hitting streak to 20 consecutive games but the Gothic Knights fell victim to a red-hot, 22-1 Montclair State University squad, losing its 2012 New Jersey Athletic Conference opener to the Red Hawks, 8-0 in five innings and 3-1 on Tuesday afternoon at the MSU Softball Stadium.
 
Montclair, which has been receiving votes in the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association, extended its winning streak to eight and improved to 22-1 overall and 4-0 in the NJAC and has not allowed more than three runs in a game during its current eight-game win streak. The Red Hawks lead the all-time series, 28-2. NJCU dropped to 8-12 overall and 0-2 in the league.
 
Senior shortstop MEGAN GINTER (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) was 2-for-3 with two doubles in game two and swiped a base. The swipe was the 89^th of her career and she tied the career school record set by Kristy Zielinski (1997-2000). Ginter, the conference leader in stolen bases, is now 20-for-20 in steals this season.
  Montclair State broke open a 3-0 lead with four runs in the fourth inning to put away the game in five innings. Sophomore right-hander Alex Hill (Parsippany, NJ/Parsippany Hills), the 2011 NJAC Pitcher of the Year and 2011 Rookie of the Year, struck out 11 and walked none in five innings, while tossing a three-hitter for her fifth shutout of the season. She improved to 13-0 on the year while winning her 30^th game over a year and a half of softball—two weeks after being named the Division III National Player of the Week. It was her seventh double-digit strikeout effort of the season.
 
Satz, senior left fielder STEPHANIE GOMEZ (South Plainfield, NJ/Belleville) and rookie third baseman NICOLE CALIXTO (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth), this week's NJAC Rookie Hitter of the Week, each went 1-for-2 to produce NJCU's only hits of the game. Satz extended her streak to 19 games with a fourth-inning, one-out single.
 
MSU was led by sophomore third baseman Dana Amato (Hillside, NJ/Pascack Valley), who was 3-for-3 with four RBIs and a run scored. Hill added two RBIs in a 2-for-3 effort. Senior center fielder Shannon Mozek (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) went 1-for-3 with three runs and a RBI while junior left fielder Jamie Paulino (Linden, NJ/Linden) added an RBI and a run for the Red Hawks.  

Sophomore Kelli O'Brien (Edison, NJ/Edison), junior Heather Bergman (Berkeley Heights, NJ/Gov. Livingston) and senior Stephanie Szeliga each added runs for the Red Hawks.
 
Junior righty ASHLEY O'BEIRNE (Wood-Ridge, NJ/Immaculate Conception) suffered the loss for the Gothic Knights (4-7). She allowed six earned runs (eight total) and nine hits in 4.1 innings with three walks and no strikeouts.
 
MSU got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first when Amato singled up the middle to score Mozek who led off with a walk, and that was all the offense the Hawks needed. MSU stranded the bases loaded in the inning.
 
In the bottom of the second, MSU would gain a 3-0 advantage when Paulino grounded out score Bergman, who led off with a single. Mozek, who reached on an error, scored on an Amato double to right center.
Amato's hot hitting would help propel the Red Hawks to score four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Her double to left field would bring in Mozek, who reached on an error for the second time in the game, and Paulino, who walked. MSU would score again later in the inning on a two-run Hill double that scored O'Brien, who was hit by a pitch and Amato.
 
The Red Hawks would put the eight-run rule into effect with a single run in the bottom of the fifth when Mozek double to left field. In game two, NJCU outhit the Red Hawks, 5-4, and got five strong innings out of junior right-hander JESS MUCERINO (Whippany, NJ/Whippany Park), but MSU scored two runs in the second inning and an insurance run in the sixth to preserve the victory.
 
Ginter was 2-for-3 with her 10^th and 11^th doubles of the year and the steal. She moved within four doubles of the single-season record of 15 two-base hits set in 1994 by Karen Flicker and equaled twice (1998, 2000) by Jen Barletta.
 
Rookie right fielder JESSICA CHANDLER (Fountain Hills, AZ/Fountain Hills) was 1-for-2 with a double and a RBI and junior second baseman GABRIELLE RIVERA (Teaneck, NJ/Saint Joseph of the Palisades) had NJCU's only run of the game in a 1-for-3 effort. Satz led off the fourth inning with a single up the middle to reach the 20-game mark.
 
Amato had another strong offensive outing for MSU and slammed her sixth homerun of the season. Hill was 2-for-3 with a double and O'Brien was 1-for-2 with a double and a RBI. Hill and sophomore first baseman Alisha Cumberton (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) each added runs for MSU.
 
Montclair got a solid performance from junior righty Jamie Miller (Spotswood, NJ/St. John Vianney), who allowed one run and four hits in 5.0 innings for the win (8-1). Hill nailed down the win with her fourth save of the season, striking out two against one hit in 2.0 innings. Mucerino allowed just three runs and four hits with two strikeouts and two walks in defeat (4-5).
 
MSU scored first in the second inning as Hill doubled and came home on an O'Brien double to left field and Cumberton, who walked ahead of the second double, crossed with the second run on a wild pitch.
 
NJCU would respond in the top of the third when Rivera led off with a double to right center and scored when Chandler went back-to-back with her first career double to cut the MSU lead in half (2-1). Chandler was thrown out at third trying to stretch her two-bagger into a triple and it proved costly as Ginter had a two-out double to left before stealing third to tie the program career record. Miller got a grounder back to the circle to end the inning.
 
MSU would add an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth as Amato cracked her sixth home run of the season, a solo shot with one out making the score, 3-1. Ginter doubled off Hill to lead off the sixth but was stranded and NJCU couldn't threaten again. MSU would seal the victory in the bottom of the sixth when Amato homered to left center to give the Red Hawks a 3-1 lead. O'Beirne pitched the final two-thirds of the sixth inning in relief.
 
NJCU will travel to Staten Island, NY on Thursday, April 5 at 3:30 p.m. with a non-conference doubleheader against the College of Staten Island.