Conference

With the first game that saw both teams cross the plate, the seven that came from Long Island was too many for Monmouth to match, as they could only muster two.

The Blackbirds started the game strong with four runs in the first inning to take a lead that lasted through five innings of scoreless softball. LIU ran through its entire lineup to earn those runs as Raylene Asman (Escondido, CA/Escondido) and All-NEC Second Team member Sterling Hoham (Norco, CA/Riverside Christian) singled.

MU then found its bats in the sixth inning with a single from freshman Tish Derer (Philadelphia, PA/Saint Basil Academy) followed by an Emily deLong (Rothschild, WI/DC Everest) single to shortstop, advancing Derer to second. Jessica Nicola () then connected for an RBI single that brought Derer home and sent deLong to third. deLong then scored the Hawk’s second run on a Kayla Weiser (Vandergrift, PA/Kiski Area) ground out to third.

LIU didn’t shy away from the scores as they notched another three tallies as Brynn Lewis (Woodinville, WA/Woodinville) made her birthday even sweeter, knocking a three-run shot out of the park for her second home run of the day. With that, MU was unable to make up the difference in the top of the seventh.

Blaire Porter (Redmond, WA/Redmond) earned her second complete-game win on the day and helped her Blackbirds to the 2010 NEC Championship game at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow against the winner of RMU vs. MU.