Union, NJ... The College of New Jersey softball team dropped a pair of New Jersey Athletic Conference games at Kean University on Saturday as the Cougars won 2-0 in the opener and then claimed the second 6-4.
 
The two losses put the Lions at 6-4 in the conference and 17-11 overall. Kean improved to 8-2 in the NJAC and are 18-10 overall.
 
The Lions continue conference play on Tuesday, April 17 as they host William Paterson University at 3 p.m.
 
Game 1
Kean University 2, TCNJ 0
The Cougars plated both of their runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the first game of the doubleheader.
 
Senior pitcher Lauren Fitzsimmons (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) tossed a complete game for the Lions allowing those two runs on just four hits with six strikeouts. Those six strikeouts as she closes in on the school record of 423. That record is currently held by Mandy Schenck (1999–2002). Fitzsimmons also recorded four in the second game raising her career total to 419.
 
TCNJ had three hits in the game as Nicole Brodbeck (Atco, NJ/Hammonton), Michelle Casale (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex), and Michelle Kent (Sparta, NJ/Pope John) each recorded one.
 
Game 2
Kean University 6, TCNJ 4
Kean broke through for three runs in both the first and second innings putting the Lions behind early.
 
TCNJ did mount a comeback in the later innings as Lindsey Williams (Roxbury, NJ/Roxbury) and Kent each scored on an error in the fifth.
 
The Lions got another run on the board in the sixth as Brodbeck doubled home and Ashley Sogluizzo (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) making the score 6-3.
 
The runs kept coming in the seventh as Casale closed the margin to two runs as she doubled home Crystal Lee (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls), who got on base by earning a walk. TCNJ did get the potential go-ahead run on base as they loaded the bases with two outs, but the Cougars didn't allow the Lions to get any closer.
 
Brodbeck finished with a pair of hits for TCNJ and also drove in a run, while Casale also had two hits.
 
Fitzsimmons tossed 4.2 innings of hitless relief and struck out four over that span.