Ewing, NJ… The College of New Jersey softball team picked up its first New Jersey Athletic Conference win with a shutout of Kean University in the opening game of Monday’s doubleheader, but the Cougars battled back to earn a split scoring in their final at bat in the second game.

The Lions (11-9, 1-5 NJAC) won the opener by the score of 4-0, while Kean (16-4, 5-2) battled back on three different occasions to win the second game, 7-6.

Game 1: TCNJ 4, Kean 0 (Box Score)
TCNJ’s Julianne Lajiness (Monroe Twp., NJ/Notre Dame) and Kean’s Maryelise Gierke (Glen Gardner, NJ/Voorhees) locked up a pitching duel in the opener with game remaining scoreless until the last of the fourth inning.

Lajiness ended up coming away with the win as the Lion senior went 6.1 innings allowing no runs with five strike outs to improve to 7-2 on the year, while freshman Ashley Minervini (Cliffside, NJ/Cliffside) recorded the final two outs to secure the win.

Gierke took the loss for Kean knocking her record to 10-1 on the year as she gave up the four runs, three of which were earned, on five hits with seven strike outs.

The Cougars came close in the top of the fourth of opening the scoring as Katy McManus (Edison, NJ/Edison) doubled to center, but Kara Schultz (Clinton, NJ/North Hunterdon) was gunned down at the plate to end the inning. TCNJ’s Jen Hughes (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) retrieved the ball with the relay going to shortstop Ellen Seavers (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) before catcher Lauren Musacchia (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) applied the tag.

The Lions kept the momentum going in the bottom half of the inning as Seavers led off with a double and scored two batters later when Hughes blasted her third home run of the season just inside the foul pole down in left field.

TCNJ added an insurance run in the last of the fifth as Jess Kohut (Hillsdale, NJ/Pascack Valley) scored on a Cougar miscue to make it 3-0. The Lions made it 4-0 in the sixth as Danielle Hagel (Egg Harbor City, NJ/Oakcrest) stole home.

Hagel finished with a pair of hits for the Lions, while Jess Buchanan (Washington, Twp., NJ/Washington Twp.) also had two hits for the Cougars.

Game 2: Kean 7, TCNJ 6 (Box Score)
Kean’s Katie Hicks (Medford Lakes, NJ/Holy Cross) hit a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning to score McManus lifting the Cougars to the victory.

Senior Kristin Boyer (Annandale, NJ/North Hunterdon) got the Lions going with a lead-off home run in the top of the first.

Boyer factored in on the scoring again in the second with a run-scoring single before TCNJ made it 3-0 later in the inning as Katie Davenport (River Edge, NJ/River Dell Regional) raced home on a fielder’s choice.

Kean stormed right back in the bottom of the second scoring three unearned runs to knot the score at 3-3.

TCNJ quickly reclaimed the lead in the fourth as Seavers and Hagel each drove in runs with doubles.

That lead was short lived, however, as Kean’s Sara Steinman (Springfield, NJ/Jonathan Dayton) hit a two-run homer to right to tie the game at five runs apiece. The homer was her team leading fourth of the year.

The teams traded runs once again in the fifth before Kean scored in the last of the seventh to earn the split.

Gierke picked up the win in relief for the Cougars, while Minervini suffered the loss of for the Lions.

The Lions are right back in action tomorrow hosting defending NCAA Division III champion Rutgers University-Camden at for a 3 p.m. doubleheader.