MAAC Freshman of the Year candidate Jennifer Yee collected three home runs, a double and four RBI vs. Rider Saturday. |
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – The Niagara University softball team (15-7, 2-0) swept Rider University (10-11, 0-2), 5-0 and 8-5, in its home and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opening weekend Saturday at Niagara Field.
The sweep snapped a six-game losing streak to the Broncs, and the last time the Purple Eagles swept Rider was 2000.
In the series, Niagara hit .308 with 16 hits, six doubles, five home runs, 12 RBI and .712 slugging percentage. On the mound, sophomores Tiffany McCrory (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Brooke Viola (Los Alamitos, Calif.) combined for a 2.0 earned-run average, 11 hits, four earned runs, four walks, 12 strikeouts and an opponent’s batting average of .204.
Niagara returns to action April 4 when it hosts Cleveland State in doubleheader at Niagara Field at 3 p.m.
Niagara 5, Rider 0
Tiffany McCrory picked up her seventh win of the season with a four-hit shutout that included six strikeouts.
Junior Lisa Baker (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca) opened the scoring for Niagara, hitting her second home run of the season to right centerfield. Classmate Nicole Sum (Burnaby, B.C.) hit an RBI single to centerfield to plate freshman Jennifer Yee (North Delta, B.C.) for the Purple Eagles’ second run of the inning.
Niagara took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Baker walked and scored on a double by Yee. Yee, who advanced to third on Baker’s play at the plate, scored on a wild pitch.
Senior Shannon Mongalise (Bethal Park, Pa.) hit her second home run of the season with a leadoff dinger to left centerfield in the bottom of the sixth.
Niagara 8, Rider 5
Niagara held off a late charge by Rider and won its second MAAC game of the young season.
Baker led off the first inning with a double down the right field line. She then scored on Yee’s fourth home run of the season. Sophomore Tory Healy (Las Vegas, Nev.) doubled and then scored on Mongalise’s double to right center field.
The Purple Eagles took a 4-0 lead in the third inning when Yee hit her second home run of the game, this time to right center field.
In the fourth, Niagara collected three more runs on three hits. Baker walked, was sacrificed to second by freshman Heather Lohrman (Newport Beach, Calif.) and scored on a Healy’s single up the middle. Yee, who got base with a walk prior to Healy’s single, and Healy took third and second on a wild pitch, and Mongalise then doubled to right field to plate the pair.
Rider scored five in the top of the sixth when Tiffany Day-Neutill singled and scored on a double to left field by Jamie Farley. The Broncs then loaded the bases after a walk and a fielder’s choice. Desiree Harbaugh then hit her third home run of the season, a digger to center field.
Yee’s third home run of the game was to straight-away centerfield in the bottom of the sixth.
