MONMOUTH – It took Monmouth coach Rachel Bernier one pitch to see what she needed to see, and it didn’t take Reen Kahl too many more to get the job done.

With the tying run on third in the seventh inning, Kahl, the Mustangs’ freshman pitcher, needed two more outs. The Mt. Abram threat forced her to dig deep, but after a quick conference with Bernier, Kahl wasted little time finishing the 3-2 Mustang win.

“I could see it after the first pitch,” said Bernier. “Her fastball came a lot harder, and the determination was there. After that first pitch, I knew she wanted the out. That’s what I saw on her face. You’ve got to love a person like that who will take that on her shoulders and do it.”

Kahl fired three straight strikes for the second out and then struck out the final batter on four pitches to end the game.

“I was just thinking we need to get the outs so we can get out of the inning and the game could be done,” said Kahl, who allowed just three hits and struck out 12.

The Roadrunners (7-3) erased a 3-0 Monmouth lead in the sixth. Kahl no-hit Mt. Abram through the first five innings, but an infield hit by Reachell Fullerton ended that. Jillian Withee followed with a two-run homer down the right field line. Mt. Abram’s Kylie Rolbiecki reached after being hit by a pitch, and she stole second with two outs. But a well-hit drive by Emma Twitchell was caught in left by Tiffany Bussiere. It was her second putout of the inning.

“The key was my little left fielder getting those two outs,” said Bernier. “The first one was very key. Then they got the home run. On the last one, it was snowconed, but those two outs she had in that inning saved us from extra innings.”

In the seventh, Molly McCafferty led off with a single and stole second. She took third on a Danni Smith fielder’s choice.

“We talked about it when we called timeout,” said Bernier of her conference with Kahl prior to the final outs. “I told them we had to take care of business right here and then. We had to keep the ball in a location that was right off the plate and give it movement. Whether it was inside, outside, high, low or whatever, we had to keep it moving.”

Colleen Shields attempted to bunt but missed her first two tries and Kahl fired the third strike by her for the second out. Fullerton came up and Kahl had a 1-2 count before getting the called third strike to end the game.

“I was trying to get into a groove and get the inning over with,” said Kahl.

The Roadrunners left five runners on base and squandered a nice effort by McCafferty. She allowed just five hits and struck out six.

“We just needed to get the bats going earlier,” said Mt. Abram coach Lanie Roy. “We played good. We had a couple bloop hits that we should have got to earlier. Molly pitched great, but the bats were slow getting going.”

The Roadrunners had two runners left on in the third and another stranded in the fourth.

“We usually get going first, but today it was just a late start into the game,” said Roy.

Instead it was Monmouth that produced early with two runs in the third. After Kelsie Hilton doubled, Alyssa Morin’s bloop single scored her. Morin later scored when Lindsey Smith singled and the ball was bobbled in the outfield. In the fifth, Hilton tripled and scored on a Morin sacrifice fly.

“Alyssa came through,” said Bernier. “Kelsie had a hit that was five feet from going over the fence. That was a nice line drive. We needed that offensive spark from them.”