Ewing, NJ… Defending NCAA Division III champions Rutgers University-Camden took a doubleheader from The College of New Jersey softball team on Tuesday as the Lions have now lost eight of their last nine games.

Rutgers Camden (17-11, 5-3 NJAC) doubled up TCNJ in the opener by the count of 6-3 and the posted a 6-0 win in the second game. The pair of losses put the Lions at an even 11-11 on the season and 1-7 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

Game 1: Camden 6, TCNJ 3 (Box Score)
Rutgers-Camden grabbed the early lead with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first and then added three more in the fifth en route to winning in the opener. In that three-run fifth, Kathleen Dreitlein (Berkeley Heights, NJ/Governor Livingston) and Amber Parker (Pennsauken, NJ/Pennsauken) each drove in runs with singles.

The Scarlet Raptors score their final run in the top of the seventh as Alaina Giles (Willingboro, NJ/Holy Cross) plated a run with a single though the left side.

The Lions scored their first run in the bottom of the fourth as Jen Hughes (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) drove in a run with a single, while Tara Harrigan (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) accounted for the second with a solo home run in the fifth inning. It was her second long ball of the season. TCNJ’s final run came in the sixth as freshman Rachel Greeby (Yardley, PA/Pennsbury) singled home Ellen Seavers (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood).

Picking up the win for Rutgers-Camden was senior Megan Farrell (Medford, NJ/Bishop Eustace) as she went the distance allowing six hits with four strikeouts.

TCNJ’s Julianne Lajiness (Monroe Twp., NJ/Notre Dame) took the loss for the Lions to fall to 7-3 on the year.

Steph Skroski (Stratford, NJ/Sterling) went 3-for-4 to pace Rutgers-Camden.

Game 2: Camden 7, TCNJ 6 (Box Score)
The Scarlet Raptors got off to another fast start scoring three runs in the bottom of the first with the big hit being a two-run double by Parker.

Rutgers-Camden added single runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings to make it 6-0 with the final run coming on a solo homer by Dreitlein.

Natalie Powell (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) collected the shutout for her sixth win of the season. She limited the Lions to only three hits with a pair of strike outs and didn’t allow a TCNJ batter to reach second base.

For the Lions, senior Jess Kohut (Hillsdale, NJ/Pascack Valley) made her first start of the season and suffered the loss.

With three hits in the two games, Giles is one hit away from 100 for her career, which would make her the eighth Scarlet Raptor to accomplish that feat.

The Lions will next be on the road for a non-conference doubleheader at Hunter College on Thursday with the first game getting underway at 3 p.m.