Orlando, FL... The annual trip to Florida was a very successful one for The College of New Jersey softball team as they closed out their southern swing with two wins on Saturday to finish with a perfect 9-0 mark. The Lions started the day with a 9-2 win over Western New England College and then rallied with eight runs in the sixth inning for a 10-2 triumph over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

TCNJ went 9-0 on the trip and outscored the opposition 62-18 and posted five shutouts in those games. The Lions were schedule to play 10 games on the trip, but had their game with DeSales University cancelled due to weather.

Next up for the Lions is the home opener on Thursday, March 17 as they host Moravian College for a pair of games at Lions' Park with the opening contest starting at 3 p.m.

TCNJ 9, Western New England College 2
The Lions overcame an early deficit in a big was as the trailed 2-0 after an inning and then tied the game with a pair of runs in the second. TCNJ took the lead for good in the third as junior Crystal Lee (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls) smacked a two-run double scoring senior Caitlyn Seamster (Edison, NJ/John P. Stevens) and junior Rebecca Florczyk (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck).

Florczyk added to the lead the following inning with a run-scoring single, while Lee plated another run with a sacrifice fly to left extending the lead to 7-2.

In the sixth, sophomore Michelle Casale (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) drove in classmate Liz Huttner (Princeton Junction, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) with a base hit, while Seamster touched home with the final run of the game in the seventh as she tripled and scored on a wild pitch.

Seamster had a productive game at the plate with a pair of hits in three at bats and scored three times.

Freshman pitcher Alex Carisone (Branchburg, NJ/Rutgers Prep) improved to 2-0 on the young season as she tossed a complete game with seven strikeouts.

TCNJ 10, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 2
The Lions and Engineers were deadlocked at two runs heading into the sixth inning before TCNJ exploded for eight runs as 12 batters made their way to the plate with eight of them eventually scoring. After RPI recorded an out on the first batter of the inning, seven straight Lions reached base as all of them scored. Sophomore Kelly Hommen (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) had key hit in the inning bringing home a pair of runs with a single.

Pitcher Lauren Fitzsimmons (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) picked up her fifth win of the trip throwing three scoreless innings of relief with four strikeouts. Those scoreless innings extended her streak of not allowing a run to 31.1 innings.

Freshman pitcher Austin Leigh (Fairfield, NJ/West Essex) started for the Lions and yielded only three hits and a pair of runs.

TCNJ's line-up had plenty of pop at the plate as five players each had two hits in the game. That group included Hommen, Lee, Casale, Kristen Lake (Readington, NJ/Hunterdon Central), and Colleen Cawley (Riverton, NJ/Holy Cross).