Mahwah, NJ: The third seeded Ramapo College Roadrunners hosted # 4 seeded William Paterson University today in the opening round of the 2006 NJAC Softball Tournament in Mahwah, NJ. Ramapo's Becky Pollak (Branchville, NJ) ripped a three-run homerun in the bottom of the 5th to take the game 4-3. Ramapo improves to 29-9 overall and advances to face #2 Rowan University on Friday, May 5th at Rutgers-Camden at 4:00 PM. The Pioneers fall to 29-10 overall and face the winner of #6 TCNJ and #1 Rutgers-Camden that commences tonight at 6:00 PM in Camden.

In the 1st inning the Pioneers jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Megan Reilly (Middlesex, NJ) singled home Brandi Kavaliauskas (Sicklerville, NJ) who reached base on an infield single earlier in the inning. The Pioneers posted two more runs in the 3rd inning after April Sardinas-Wyssling (Plainsbro, NJ) reached on an infield error and was knocked in on an Alicia Albert (Voorhees, NJ) single to left field. Senior catcher Mindy Coxe (Gloucester City, NJ) scored on an infield ground out by Ana Abourashed (Middlesex, NJ) to take a 3-0 Pioneer lead.

The Roadrunners were held to just one hit prior to the start of the 5th inning by Diana Schraer (Paramus, NJ) who struck out two, facing ten batters. Jenn Scott (Mount Ephraim,NJ) took over pitching duties after an injury to Schraer and Ramapo's Andrea Pastiglione (Southern, CA) doubled down the left field line and scored when Lauren Cascino (New Windsor, NY) ripped a single to left field to close the gap, 3-1.

In the 5th inning Pollak stepped to the plate with one out and ripped a three-run homerun over the right-centerfield wall to score Erica Moore (Hazlet, NJ) and Pastiglione who ripped a double to center field and walked respectively. Sophomore pitcher Katie Norton (Livingston, NJ) pitched one-two-three final innings earning the win for Ramapo to improve to 10-3 on the year. Norton struck out two in the complete game walking only one.

Scott gets the loss letting up five hits and all four runs in three innings pitched.

Pollak went 2-3 on the day with one run and three RBI while Pastiglione hit 1-3 with two runs and Moore went 1-3 with one run of her own. Cascino posted one hit on three at bats with one RBI and junior Ginny O'Brien (Emerson, NJ) hit 1-2 in the win.

For the Pioneers, Kavaliauskas led the way hitting 2-4 with one run scored while Sardinas-Wyssling and Albert hit 1-4 with one run and 1-3 with one RBI respectively.