MONTCLAIR, NJ -- #2 Rowan secured the NJAC Tournament top playoff seed in capturing the NJAC Regular Season crown with its doubleheader sweep at Montclair State, 10-0, and 5-4, Friday afternoon in the regular season finale for both teams.

The Profs will enter the postseason as the top seed in the conference for the fourth year in a row. The full bracket will be released upon the conclusion of the regular season on Sunday, April 27th.

Game one
Rylee Lutz (17-0) threw her tenth shutout of the season, holding the Red Hawks to five hits while fanning five and not allowing a walk and Liz McCaffery went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a walk as the game ended after the sixth.

Kate Evick doubled twice while McKenzie Melvin was 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored as Rowan scored in every inning but the fifth.

Leading 2-0 in the third, Evick's RBI double and a sac fly from Holly Markus tacked on two more runs for a four-run edge.

Abigail Pawlowski doubled in McCaffery as part of a four-run sixth.

Game two
The Profs rallied with three runs in the top of the seventh to force extra innings where Pawlowski's sac fly to plate McCaffery in the eighth was the difference.

Melvin and Aly Reim each had three hits with a double with McCaffery adding a solo home run in the fifth.

An RBI single in the second and a homer in the fourth put Montclair State ahead, 2-0. On to the fifth, McCaffery hit her third long ball of the season to cut the deficit in half.

The Red Hawks struck again for a pair of runs in the bottom half to knock out starter Emily McCutcheon (4.0 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 4 K, 0 BB).

BethAnne Doderer came on in that fifth and went the next four innings spinning one-hit softball to pick up the victory (4-0).

The seventh inning rally started with the Profs getting its first three batters on to load the bags. Breanna Bryant's sac fly followed by RBI single from Reim made it a one-run game. Back-to-back walks helped cross another run as pinch hitter Cami Morgan worked a base on balls to force in Pawlowski to tie things up at 4-4.

McCaffery was placed on second to begin the eighth and would move to third on a single from Melvin. Two batters later, Pawlowski's fly out to left was enough to get McCaffery home for the team's first lead
of the contest.

After a one-out walk in the bottom half, Doderer closed it out with a pair of fly outs to lock up the win and the top playoff seed in the NJAC Tournament that gets underway on Tuesday in first-round contests.

The Profs have earned a bye and will play its first postseason game on Saturday, May 3rd at Kean against an opponent to be determined after first-round action.
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