LIVE STATS | TWITTERHACKENSACK, N.J. - Seven games over five days at the Loyola Marymount Tournament in Los Angeles, California is what is on the docket for the Fairleigh Dickinson softball team this weekend.
The Knights face Monmouth and Harvard tomorrow (March 11) at 1 and 5 p.m., just Monmouth on Saturday (Match 12) at 5 p.m. and then both Harvard and LMU on Saturday and Tuesday (March 13, 15). The doubleheaders against Harvard and LMU start at 3 and 5 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
Fairleigh Dickinson picked up its first win of the season in a doubleheader split with UMBC last weekend. The Knights dropped the first game 9-0 in five innings before getting the 7-6 win in the second game.
Kellie Natham (Arcadia, Calif./Maranatha) drove in the eventual game-winning RBI in the fifth inning with a double. Natham finished 2-for-3 with two RBI in the game.
Francine Villalobos (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley) homered and drove in two for the Knights.
The Knights are 1-1 against Harvard all-time, 0-1 against Loyola Marymount and 7-19 against Monmouth. The win against Harvard came last season came at this same event (3-1). Fairleigh Dickinson last played Monmouth back in 2013 (twice) and the Knights went 1-1 in those two games.
Cheryl Lopez (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) (1-1) picked up the win against UMBC. The junior pitched a complete game while giving up six runs and 11 hits and struck out three.
Natham leads the NEC and Fairleigh Dickinson in hitting with a .438 average. The freshman ranks second in the league in doubles per game at 0.33.
Villalobos and
Madison Lerma (Escondido, Calif./Escondido) are second on the Knights with a .333 average and in RBI with three.
