DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – First-year Madison McClary drove in three runs in the fifth inning and Olivia Monismith struck out eight as the Delaware Valley University softball team advanced to the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom Championship quarterfinals with a 5-3 victory over FDU-Florham.
After a split in yesterday's doubleheader in Madison, New Jersey, the team's came to Doylestown for the third and final game of the series, but the Devils remained the home team as the higher seed.
The Aggies had five hits through the first three innings and opened the scoring in the third when Megan Torrey and Jessica Stewart got aboard with singles and Alexis Langenfelder followed with a two-out single of her own to plate Torrey and give DelVal a 1-0 lead.
FDU responded in the bottom of the third as the lead-off hitter reached on an error and later came around to score on a single up the middle from Taylor Tobey. The next batter, Colleen Conway grounded out to second base, but Dani Sames was able to score and give the Devils a 2-1 lead.
Alexa Jones led off the top of the fourth with a single for the Aggies and advanced to third after a sacrifice bunt and a single by Anastasia Yocum. Adina Brucie came up next and laid down a bunt that allowed Jones to cross the plate and tie the game at 2-2.
FDU got one hit in the bottom of the fourth, but Monismith got a strikeout to end the inning and keep the game tied.
In the top of the fifth, DelVal had runners on first and third after a single from Makenna Cooper and an error. Madison McClary came up with two outs and hit a ball hard to the fence in left center field. She picked up two RBI as she legged out a triple and came in to score as the ball got away from the third baseman. The three-run hit catapulted the Aggies to a 5-2 lead they would not relinquish.
The Devils got on back in the bottom of the fifth, but a nifty double play and a fly out got DelVal out of the jam with a 5-3 lead going into the sixth.
Monismith retired FDU in order in the sixth and got two strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh to close the door on the victory and send the Aggies to the quarterfinal round.
McClary finished with two hits, two RBI, and a run scored while Torrey and Caitlyn Pollock also registered two hits in the game. DelVal racked up 11 hits as a team while Monismith allowed just seven and walked none as she struck out eight batters for the second day in a row.
Morgan DeLoreto led the Devils with two hits and a run scored and five other players had a hit.
The Aggies will travel to top-seed Misericordia University next Saturday to begin a best-of-three series with a doubleheader slated for 1 p.m. in Dallas, Pa.
