Salisbury, MD... The College of New Jersey softball team participated in the Salisbury Invitational on Saturday and ran into a pair of quality opponents as the Lions fell to Capital University and the host Sea Gulls.
 
TCNJ fell to the Crusaders 2-0 in the first game of the day and then fell to 18^th-ranked Salisbury 5-0 in the second. The Lions are now 7-5 on the season.
 
The Lions play a mid-week doubleheader at Muhlenberg College on Wednesday, March 21 playing its home opener against SUNY Cortland. The twin bill with the 13^th-ranked Red Dragons is set for Saturday, March 24 at Lions' Park with the game starting at 1 p.m.
 
Capital University 2, TCNJ 0
The Crusaders scored an unearned run in the third inning and added an insurance run in the sixth for the 2-0 win.
 
Sophomore Kristen Lake (Readington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) had a one-out double in the first and junior Liz Huttner (Princeton Junction, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) added a lead-off double in the second, but each time Capital's defense prevented the Lions from pushing a run across the plate.
 
Sophomore pitcher Alex Carisone (Branchburg, NJ/Rutgers Prep) went the distance for the Lions as she struck out five and allowed five hits and two runs, with only one of them being earned.
 
#18 Salisbury University 5, TCNJ 0
The host Sea Gulls plated an unearned run in the third inning and then pushed two runs across in both the fourth and fifth innings to account for all of the scoring.
 
TCNJ looked to break open the scoring in the top of the first as senior Crystal Lee (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls) singled, but she was left on second base when the inning ended.
 
The Lions also threatened in the fourth as Kelly Hommen (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) walked and then moved to second when Huttner singled. Both runners then moved up a base on a ground out, but Salisbury prevented those runners from advancing any further by recording the final out of the inning.
 
On the mound, senior Lauren Fitzsimmons (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) suffered her first setback of the season as she tossed her team-leading sixth complete game of the season. She finished with six strike outs.