Claremont, Fla. ... The College of New Jersey softball team split a pair of one-run games on their first day in Florida, defeating Calvin College, 10-9 in eight innings before falling to Wesleyan University, 4-3.
 
The win and loss put the Lions at 3-2 overall this season. Sam Platt earned the win in relief in the opener for her second victory of the season. TCNJ will square off against Keene State College and Frostburg State University tomorrow beginning at 11 a.m.
 
Game One: TCNJ 10  Calvin College 9 (8 innings)
 
TCNJ showed its mettle in this win, coming back from three, late-game deficits. They punched out 11 hits off the bats of nine different players and committed just one error on defense.
 
The Lions were cruising along with a 4-0 lead entering the top of the sixth when the offensive fireworks ignited and set off a crazy back-and-forth battle. The Knights racked up five runs in the sixth to take a one-run lead, but TCNJ answered with a pair of runs to regain command. In the seventh, Calvin plated three more runs, but the Lions countered with two more to tie the game and send it to extra innings.
 
The Knights went back on top in the eight with a run, but TCNJ responded with two more, ending a wild finish (fittingly) on a wild pitch.
 
The offense was lukewarm for the majority of the game. An RBI-single by Gaby Bennett (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) gave the Lions a 1-0 lead in the second. Senior Jaime Purcell (Nutley, NJ/Mount Saint Dominic Academy) lined a run-scoring single to center field in the fifth to widen the gap to 2-0. Sophomore Madison Levine (Oakland, NJ/Indian Hills) followed with her first career home run, and in a blink, TCNJ held a comfortable 4-0 advantage.
 
Senior Ashtin Helmer (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) held the Knights scoreless through five innings, limiting their offense to just four hits. But the bats came alive in the sixth. A two-run double and a two-run triple highlighted the Calvin outburst, and when the dust settled, the Knights were in command.
 
Three hits and a defensive error led to a pair of TCNJ runs in the bottom of the inning. Another two-run double spearheaded three more runs in the seventh, but the Lions battled back. Sophomore Jenna Schwartz (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville) tied the game with an RBI-single to force extra innings.
 
After the Knights manufactured a run in the eighth, freshman Jess Santelli (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) put down a sacrifice bunt to move Kristen Fitzsimmons (Sayreville, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial) to third. Steph Vuono (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern) doubled to tie the game. Purcell followed with a single and Vuono came home with the game-winning run on a wild pitch.
 
Purcell and Jess McGuire (Stockton, NJ/Hunterdon Central) each had two hits in the win.
 
Game Two: Wesleyan 4  TCNJ 3
 
In the nightcap, TCNJ took a 1-0 when senior Deanna Utter (Byram, NJ/Lenape Valley Regional) lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate Bennett (who had singled). After Wesleyan tied it, Bennett collected her second hit of the game, an RBI-double that scored Levine.
 
Wesleyan came back with two runs in bottom of the third to take a 3-2 lead. The Lions manufactured a run to tie the game in the fifth. Santelli dropped down a bunt base hit and later came home on a Purell ground out. But a single run by Wesleyan in the bottom of the inning turned out to be the game-winner.
 
Senior Kate Hourihan (Neptune, NJ/Neptune) and freshman Sara Bielamowicz (Lawrence, NJ/Lawrence) both pitched well, but Wesleyan senior Su Pardo earned the decision.
 
Bennett finished with two hits in the game and three on the day.