Ewing, NJ... The College of New Jersey softball team hit the 20-win plateau on Sunday as the Lions recorded a pair of big conference wins taking both ends of a doubleheader against Kean University. The Lions won the opening game 4-2 and then held on for a 5-4 triumph in the second.

The two wins put TCNJ at 20-8 on the season and 6-4 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, while the Cougars are 7-3 in conference play and 9-17 overall.

The conference schedule continues for both teams on Tuesday as the Lions head to William Paterson University, while the Cougars return home to face first place Montclair State University. Both doubleheaders start at 3 p.m.

Game 1
TCNJ 4, Kean University 2
Junior Lauren Fitzsimmons (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) made a successful return to the mound after missing time with an injury dealing the Cougars only their second conference loss of the season. Fitzsimmons went the distance as she allowed seven hits with three strike outs. The win puts her at 6-1 on the season.

The hosts pounced on the Cougars early as senior Colleen Cawley (Riverton, NJ/Holy Cross) ripped a two-out double into the gap in left field as Crystal Lee (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls) and Kelly Hommen (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) each scored for a 2-0 advantage.

Kean got one of those runs back in the second as Kelly Moorehead (Hicksville, NY/Hicksville) scored on an infield single by Megan Cegielski (Stockton, NJ/Hunterdon Central).

Moorehead was a factor again the next inning as she tripled down the line in left knotting the game a two runs apiece.

TCNJ quickly regained the lead getting a pair of runs in the bottom half of the third. Sophomore Liz Huttner (Princeton Junction, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) drove in the first of those runs with a single through the left side and then scored from first on a double by Katelyn Congilose (Toms River, NJ/Monsignor Donovan). Those two runs made it a 4-2 game.

Cawley and Michelle Casale (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) each had a pair of hits for the Lions, while Cawley drove in a pair.

Moorehead and Katie Schuh (Mt. Holly, NJ/Rancocas Valley) both record two hits for Kean.

Game 2
TCNJ 5, Kean University 4
Just like the opening game, TCNJ got on the scoreboard first with a run in their initial at bat. Lee started things off with a single, stole second, and scored on a double over the bag at third by Ashley Sogluizzo (Middletown, NJ/Middletown).

That same combination made it 2-0 as Lee reached on an error and then raced home on a single by Sogluizzo.

Kean used a two-run fourth inning to pull even with the first run coming courtesy of base hit by Courtney Melchionna (Linden, NJ/Linden) and the second on a pinch-hit double by Nicole Scarillo (South Amboy, NJ/South Amboy).

Lee came through with the biggest hit of the game as she laced a base-clearing triple in the in the fifth putting the Lions in front 5-2.

The Cougars made a late push in the seventh as Sandra Binkiewicz (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) singled in a run and Moorehead followed with another run-scoring single making it a 5-4 game.

Freshman Alex Carisone (Branchburg, NJ/Rutgers Prep) picked up her team-leading seventh win of the season, while classmate Austin Leigh (Fairfield, NJ/West Essex) earned her first collegiate save.