From Staff Reports
Hempstead, N.Y. -- Senior first baseman Ashley Monceaux (Tucson, AZ) was 3-for-4 with a homer, a double, and four RBI as the Baylor Softball team captured the Hempstead Regional with a 10-0 win over Albany on Sunday afternoon at Hofstra Softball Stadium.
With the win, Baylor improves to 48-13 and moves on to the Super Regionals to face the winner of the Ann Arbor regional between Michigan and Oregon State at home next weekend. Albany sees its season end at 35-17 after winning the first two NCAA Tournament games in the history of the program.
Baylor jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly from senior catcher Chelsi Lake (Keller, Texas). Monceaux led off with a line drive single into right-center field and moved to second on a single from freshman right fielder Kirsten Shortridge (Keller, Texas). After a forceout moved, Monceaux to third, Lake hit a fly ball to straightaway center field to score the first run of the contest.
The Lady Bears stretched the lead to 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning when they scored three runs with two outs in the fourth inning. Center fielder Miriam Romero (Douglas, Ariz.) drove in the first run with a slap single to shortstop to score freshman left fielder Tiffany Wesley (Baton Rouge, La.), who started the rally with a one-out single. Monceaux then added a two-run double into the left-center field gap to put Baylor ahead 4-0.
Baylor added six more runs in the fifth inning to enforce the eight-run rile after five innings. Wesley tacked on an RBI double in the fifth inning on a double through the left side. Monceaux capped off the inning with a two-run homer to straightaway center, tying the school record for homers in a season with her 18th.
Senior pitcher Lisa Ferguson (Fort Worth, Texas) started and allowed just one hit over four innings, a leadoff single to left fielder Amber Maisonet (Newburgh, N.Y.) in the bottom of the first. Ferguson improved to 23-7 on the year with the victory. Wesley was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI at the plate for the Lady Bears. Leah McIntosh suffered the loss for Albany to fall to 11-6, allowing six earned runs over 4.2 innings.