Ewing, NJ… The College of New Jersey softball team won the opening game of a doubleheader with Rutgers-Camden, but the Scarlet Raptors came back to win the nightcap and earn a split with the Lions on Tuesday.
 
TCNJ won the first game 2-1, while Rutgers-Camden regrouped to get the split with a 5-2 victory.
 
The Scarlet Raptors remained in second place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference standings with a 6-2 record (12 points) and the Lions moved into third place at 5-3 (10 points). Teams are awarded two points for each conference win. TCNJ is 12-6 overall, while Rutgers-Camden is 13-5-1.
 
TCNJ continues conference play at home on Saturday, April 11 when they host Rutgers-Newark at 1 p.m., while the Scarlet Raptors play a non-conference doubleheader at Arcadia University on Thursday.
 
Game 1
#25 TCNJ 2, Rutgers-Camden 1
Junior pitcher Ashtin Helmer (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) went the distance to get the win as she allowed one run on four hits. The lefty also struck out five as the pitcher improved her record to 5-2 on the season.
 
The Lions got the first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning as junior Deanna Utter (Byram, NJ/Lenape Valley) laced a solo home run to left center for a 1-0 lead. The homer was her second of the season.
 
TCNJ doubled that lead in the last of the fifth as freshman Bria Bartsch (Montville, NJ/Mt. St. Dominic Academy) dropped a single into left field that allowed sophomore Colleen Phelan (Tinton Falls, NJ/Monmouth Regional) to score from second.
 
Rutgers-Camden trimmed a run off of that deficit in the sixth, but had a chance to get more. The Scarlet Raptors had runners at second and third with nobody out, but Brittany Scott (Buena, NJ/Buena Regional) produced the only run with a ground out to short.
 
Scott took the loss for the Scarlet Raptors, yielding those two runs on three hits.
 
Game 2
Rutgers-Camden 5, #25 TCNJ 2
Rutgers-Camden overcame an early deficit with five unanswered runs to claim the second game and earn the split.
 
The Lions got the early jump in the second game scoring when Utter hit a deep single to left center to score Bartsch from second. That run gave the hosts an early 1-0 lead.
 
The Scarlet Raptors came right back in their next turn at bat getting three runs in one swing. Senior Devon Welsh (Maple Shade, NJ/Audubon) hit a three-run homer to put the visitors in front.
 
Rutgers-Camden extended that advantage with two more runs in the third. The first of those came on a ground out by Lindsay Day (Mays Landing, NJ/Oakcreat), while Krystine Rice (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) doubled in Scott to make it 5-1.
 
TCNJ trimmed one run off of that deficit in the bottom of the inning on a single to center off of the bat of freshman Jess Stevenson (Belmar, NJ/Red Bank Regional).  
 
The Lions seemed poised for a rally in the bottom of the seventh as Utter and junior Kristen Fitzsimmons (Sayreville, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial) started the inning with hits. Phelan then hit a ball into the gap in right that Scarlett Raptor Jalen Garcia (Vineland, NJ/Vineland) made a nice running catch on, preventing TCNJ from getting any closer.
 
Scott earned the win on the mound and also went 3-for-4 at the plate.
 
Fitzsimmons collected three hits for the Lions, while Utter and junior Jamie Purcell (Nutley, NJ/Mt. St. Dominic Academy) each had two.