Box score - Game 1

Box score - Game 2

Ewing, NJ...Sophomore Lauren Fitzsimmons (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) spun a two-hitter as The College of New Jersey softball team battled back with a 2-1 win to split a double-header with fourth-ranked Messiah College.

The Lions (11-3) dropped a tough 2-1 decision in the opening game, but picked themselves off the mat and responded with their biggest triumph of the 2010 season.


Game 1  - Messiah College 2, TCNJ 1 

Messiah scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning and then held off TCNJ's push in the later innings to pull out the victory.

The Falcons broke through for a those runs in the top of the fourth as Abby Bergakker (Grand Rapids, MI/N. Pointe Christian) lined a single to left field driving in both runs.

TCNJ crept back into the game in the latter half of the sixth as senior Ellen Seavers (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) drove in Crystal Lee (Dover, NJ/Morris Knolls) with a single up the middle making it a 2-1 game.

Messiah pitcher Jessica Rhoads (Dillsburg, PA/Northern) picked up her seventh win of the season striking out 15 and allowing four hits.

Senior Ashley Minervini (Cliffside Park, NJ/Cliffside Park) pitched well in receiving the loss as she gave up four hits and struck out eight.


Game 2  - TCNJ 2 Messiah College 1

Fitzsimmons (6-0) gave TCNJ the shot in the arm they needed coming out and dominating the Falcon hitters. After a 1-2-3 top of the first, the Lions took and early 1-0 lead as Lee singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly to center by freshman Ashley Sogluizzo (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South).

In the third, TCNJ added to its lead as freshman Kelly Hommen (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) plated Sogluizzo with a base hit making it a 2-0 game.

The Lions nearly broke the game wide open in the bottom of the fifth when Hagle doubled with two outs. That brought Caitlyn Seamster (Edison, NJ/John P. Stevens) to the plate and she launched a blast destined for a two-run homer. Falcons center fielder Jaclyn Merkel (Linthicum, MD/Mount deSales Academy) had other thoughts as she leaped up to rob Seamster of a home run to keep the game at 2-0

Through five complete innings, Fitzsimmons was untouched and bidding for her second perfect game of the season. Messiah's Lauren Seneca broke the perfecto stroking a clean single to left field. The Falcons loaded the bases with two outs and Merkel hit a base hit to left field that looked like it would tie the game. But Lee hit third baseman Katelyn Congilose (Toms River, NJ/Monsignor Donovan) with a strike and Congilose fired home to sophomore catcher Michelle Kent (Sparta, NJ/Pope John) to nail the runner at home and hold their 2-1 advantage.

Fitzsimmons took care of business in the seventh to give TCNJ a tremendous win over the defending Division III national champions.

Things don't get any easier for the Lions as they host sixth-ranked SUNY Cortland for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 29 with the opening game set for 1 p.m. The Falcons are also in action on Saturday opening Commonwealth Conference play with a pair of games at Elizabethtown College.