Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

Grantham, PA... Sixth-ranked Messiah College took a pair of one-run games from The College of New Jersey softball team on Tuesday as the Falcons posted a sweep of the Lions in a match-up of nationally ranked programs.

The sixth-ranked Falcons held on for a 5-4 win in the opening game and then fought off another TCNJ rally in the second for a 7-6 triumph.

The two losses dropped 19th-ranked TCNJ to 13-4, while Messiah improved to 18-2.

TCNJ opens New Jersey Athletic Conference play this weekend hosting Rutgers University-Newark for a doubleheader on Saturday at Lions' Park.

Game 1
Messiah College 5, TCNJ 4
The Lions fell behind early and then saw their rally come up a run short as the Falcons held on for the opener. The hosts opened with a run in the last of the first and then pushed three more across in the third for a 4-0 lead.

TCNJ got on the board in the top of the fourth as junior Crystal Lee (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls) was hit by a pitch and later scored on a passed ball.

Messiah extended the margin to 5-1 in the fifth with an unearned run, but the Lions continued to battle. Sophomore Liz Huttner (Princeton Junction, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) led off with a walk and later scored on an error, while seniors Colleen Cawley (Riverton, NJ/Holy Cross) and Michelle Kent (Sparta, NJ/Pope John) each drove home runs with singles.

Cawley had a solid game at the plate going 2-for-3.

Game 2
Messiah College 7, TCNJ 6
Despite the Lions scoring the first run of the game in the opening inning, the second game had a familiar look to the first as the hosts grabbed a four-run lead through three innings and then held off TCNJ in the latter stages of the game.

Junior Katelyn Congilose (Toms River, NJ/Monsignor Donovan) put the Lions in front in their initial at bat in the nightcap with a base hit bringing home sophomore Ashley Sogluizzo (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South).

Messiah countered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, but TCNJ quickly got one back in the second as junior Rebecca Florczyk (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) race home on a passed ball.

The Falcons again struck for three runs in the third to take a 6-2 advantage.

After an unearned run made it a 6-3 game, the Lions pulled another run closer in the fifth as Florczyk plated freshman Nicole Brodbeck (Atco, NJ/Hammonton) with a single to center field.

Messiah added an insurance run in the sixth pushing its lead to 7-4.

TCNJ kept coming getting two more runs up on the scoreboard in the sixth as sophomore Kelly Hommen (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) used a ground out to drive in a run and Cawley again came through with a runner in scoring position single to right.

Florczyk, Congilose, Cawley, Lee, and Kristen Lake (Readington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) each finished with two hits as the Lions picked up 12 for the game.