Orlando, FL... The College of New Jersey softball team rounded out its spring trip by splitting its final two games as the Lions head back to campus with a 7-3 record. TCNJ started the day with a 4-1 victory over SUNY Plattsburgh, but dropped the final game of the trip 4-3 to Case Western Reserve University.
 
The Lions are idle until next weekend when they head to Salisbury University where they will take on the Sea Gulls as well as Capital University.
 
TCNJ 4, SUNY Plattsburgh 1
The Lions broke open a close 1-0 game with three runs in the fifth en route to the victory.
 
TCNJ scored first in the last of the second inning as junior Liz Huttner (Princeton Junction, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) doubled and then scored on a squeeze bunt by Ashley Sogluizzo (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South).
 
The lead stayed at a run until the fifth when the Lions broke through for three more as Michelle Casale (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) walked and later scored on an error. Kristen Lake (Readington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) drove in the second run of the inning with a triple and came home one batter later as Kelly Hommen (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) singled.
 
On the mound, senior Lauren Fitzsimmons (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) fired 5-1/3 innings of no-hit ball before the Cardinals broke through for a hit in the sixth and spoiled the shutout in the top of the seventh. She allowed just the one run on three hits and struck out nine. This win put her at a perfect 5-0 for the spring trip.
 
Lake had a steady game for the Lions at the plate as she was 2-for-2 with a run scored and she also drove in a run.
 
Case Western Reserve 4, TCNJ 3
The Lions started fast against the Spartans as senior Crystal Lee (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls) led off the game with a walk, stole second and third before racing home on a hit by Hommen in the top of the first.
 
That lead held until the third when Case Western Reserve tied the game with a run in the bottom of the inning and the Spartans then took their first lead of the game in the fourth with a pair of runs. That margin grew to 4-1 in the fifth.
 
TCNJ cashed in a pair of Spartan errors in the sixth to creep back to with 4-3 as Lake and Corinne Minicozzi (Hawthorne, NJ/Hawthorne) each crossed the plate.
 
The Lions threatened to tie the score in the top of the seventh as Lee and Lake had back-to-back two-out singles, but Case Western Reserve was able to record the final out and protect the win.
 
Lee finished 2-for-3 for TCNJ and Lake also had a pair of hits.