Ewing – The College of New Jersey softball team played their hearts out against the Arcadia University Knights at their home field, June Walker Field, in Ewing.
TCNJ played Acadia in a doubleheader, with game one starting at 2:30 and game two starting at 4:30.
The Lions fell in the first game, but made a huge comeback in the second game.
The first game ran slowly, and much of the game was full of ground balls, steals, and slides. Nobody made it home in the first few innings of this game.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning that things began to move for both of these teams. It was Arcadia who scored first. Grace Caldwell hit a triple that sent Alexa Kozarski home, scoring the first run of the game.
The Lions caught up in the sixth inning. TCNJ’s rally started with Kaci Neveling doubling to left center, followed by Julia Kinnally grounding to the shortstop, allowing Neveling to advance to third. Camryn Kitchin singled through the left side and sent Neveling home, where she scored the first run of the game for TCNJ.
Things continued to stay the same until the seventh inning. TCNJ allowed the bases to become loaded, and after Caldwell hit a single to left field, Zoey Ritter ran home from third, giving Acadia another run to put the Knights ahead 2-1. This was the final for the first game after they played eight innings.
The second game started at 4:40, and TCNJ really pulled through in the second game. This game was a complete shutout that ended with the Lions winning 16-0. This game was only five innings.
Maya Knasi pitched for the Lions. TCNJ kept right on top of the ball wherever it went and played very well defensively.
The Lions scored two runs in the first inning. Olivia Santos and then Morgan Estelow scored those runs.
In the second inning, TCNJ scored again with Santos and Grace Brouillard crossing home plate.
In the third inning, Jules Fuchs scored, followed shortly thereafter by another run by Santos, Taylor Freudenberg, and McKayla Yard. At this point in the game, the Lions were ahead 8-0.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, TCNJ scored on multiple occasions. Kitchin started off by scoring first, followed by Kathryn Carollo. Freudenberg scored again, followed by Olivia Gist, Sara Vincent, Amelia Santos, Estelow again, and finally, Angelina Marrano, all right after another.
Arcadia changed their pitcher to Julianna Presto during this inning, but even that did not help the Knights.
Finally, at the top of the fifth, the knights gave it one more shot, but they could not make anything happen or reach home plate.
The TCNJ softball team will return for another doubleheader on Saturday, March 29, at home against the Ramapo College Roadrunners.
