Mahwah, NJ... The College of New Jersey softball team made the opening weekend of New Jersey Athletic Conference play an exciting one as Lions pulled off a sweep at Ramapo College, capping the big day with an extra-inning win to take both games.
 
TCNJ won the first game 4-0 and then rallied to force extra innings in the second, before eventually winning 4-2 in nine innings.
 
The win put the Lions at 14-4 on the season and 2-0 in conference play, while the Roadrunners are an even 7-7 and 0-2 in the NJAC.
 
TCNJ continues conference play on Tuesday, April 2 with a doubleheader at Richard Stockton College. The opening game of the doubleheader begins at 3 p.m.
 
Game 1
TCNJ 4, Ramapo College 0
TCNJ freshman Ashtin Helmer (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) fired her third shutout of the season leading the Lions to a win in the opener. Helmer allowed only six hits and recorded eight strikeouts to run her individual record to 6-0 on the season.
 
Senior Kelly Hommen (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) provided TCNJ with the lead in the second inning as she belted her first home run of the season for a 1-0 lead. The Lions added two more in the inning tacking advantage of a couple of Roadrunner errors as both junior Kristen Lake (Whitehouse Station, NJ/Hunterdon Central) and freshman Deanna Utter (Byram, NJ/Lenape Valley) each crossed home plate.
 
TCNJ added another run in the third with Hommen and Utter again involved in the scoring. Hommen doubled and then came home to score on a single up the middle by Utter, increasing the lead to 4-0.
 
Hommen and Utter each finished with two hits to pace the Lions at the plate.
 
Game 2
TCNJ 4, Ramapo College 2, (9 innings)
The Lions scored twice in the top of the ninth inning with senior Liz Huttner (Princeton Junction, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) scoring on a bunt by classmate Ashley Sogluizzo (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South), who moved into scoring position on an error.
 
Sogluizzo scored an insurance run one batter later when Hommen put down a successful squeeze making it a 4-2 game.
 
Helmer then kept the Roadrunners off of the board in the bottom of the ninth capping off her four innings of scoreless relief to earn the win.
 
TCNJ's defense came up huge in both the bottom of the seventh innings with the first of those coming on an infield fly out with the Ramapo runner being called out on the play for interference.
 
In the eighth, the teams started the inning with a runner on second via the tiebreaker rule and Ramapo moved that runner to third with a sacrifice bunt. Kristen Wilson then hit a fly ball to right field where senior Michelle Casale (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) made the catch and then gunned down the potential winning run at the plate sending the game into the ninth inning.
 
The Lions opened the game with a run in the first with Casale scoring on a base hit by Hommen.
 
Ramapo came back with single runs in the third and fourth, but TCNJ fought back to tie the score in the top of the sixth when Huttner had an infield single that scored Lake.
 
Freshman Nicole Hroncich (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) got the start on the mound for the Lions and went five innings, allowing a pair of hits and one earned run.