Final Stats

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Monmouth scored three runs in the first inning and held on for a 5-4 victory over Siena in the First Round of the MAAC Championships Wednesday afternoon in Buffalo. Junior Sammy Smaldone (Delmar) went 3-for-3 with a home run in the loss for the Saints.

Justene Reyes and Rachel Shotzbarger hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning to get the Hawks off to a flying start.

"We didn't get off to a good start, but we battled back and had our opportunities, and we forced them to make a great play in to keep it from being a tie game," Siena coach Bill Lajeunesse said.

The Saints were down 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth, but Abby Carpenter's two-out single to left center chased home two runs and made the score 5-4. Paige Hess followed with a long double into the left field corner, but Siena left those runners stranded.

The play of the game came in the sixth when Smaldone singled through the left side of the infield with runners on first and second and two outs. Left fielder Chloe Howerth came up throwing and fired a strike to the plate just before Brooke Taylor could slide across with the tying run.

Taylor and Hess each finished with two hits for the Saints.

Lauren Butts finished off a strong outing in the circle by keeping Monmouth off the board in the seventh thanks to some great defense from centerfielder Lauren Milligan, but Siena's went in order in the bottom of the inning.

Sydney Underhill went the distance to pick up the win for Monmouth allowing 10 hits and four runs. Butts pitched six innings in relief and gave up just five hits and one earned run.

Siena falls into the loser's bracket where it will face the loser of tomorrow morning's first game which features No. 2 seed Fairfield and No. 6 seed Iona. First pitch of the Siena game is slated for 2 p.m.

"Our goal is to play here until they tell us to go home," Lajeunesse said.