Osceola, FL… The College of New Jersey softball team split their opening pair of games from the annual Florida spring trip. The Lions dropped the first game 5-3 to Worcester Polytechnical Institute, before defeating Wheaton College (MA) 9-0 behind a no-hitter from
Alanna Namit (Mountainside, NJ/Governor Livingston). The Lions are now 4-2 on the season. WPI sits at 8-3, while Wheaton drops to 0-2.
Namit recorded 15 strikeouts, 10 swinging, in the five inning game, allowing just a trio of base runners. Offensively, the Lions got an early run in the first when
Gaby Bennett (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) tripled home
Megan Mayernik (Columbus, NJ/Northern Burlington) from second base.
In the third, TCNJ got a lead-off single from
Elyse Nardozza (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley). Following a fielder's choice, Mayernik ripped her second hit of the game to put runners on first and second.
Annalise Suitovsky (Warren Twp., NJ/Watchung Hills) stole third and the pressure forced an error which allowed her to score. Bennett reached on an infield single with Mayernik coming around on another throwing error. The Lions then got three straight RBI hits, as
Kaitlin Kocinski (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) ripped a double off the left field fence,
Jess McGuire (Stockton, NJ/Hunterdon Central) ripped a base hit back up the middle, and
Jenna Schwartz (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville) dropped a texas leaguer down the right field line.
The Lions put the game out of reach in the fourth. Mayernik and Kocinski each produced RBI triples with Mayernik also scoring on an RBI ground out from
Madison Levine (Oakland, NJ/Indian Hills).
In the first game, TCNJ grabbed an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first on a two-run single from Levine followed immediately by an RBI hit from McGuire. WPI responded with an RBI single from Marissa Gonzales.
Following a pair of unearned runs that tied the score in the bottom of the fourth, The Engineers got a two-out home run by LeClaire in the bottom of the fifth to take what would be the decisive lead. Garca would produce a run-scoring double before the inning was over to produce the final score.
The Lions are back in action tomorrow with a pair of games against Utica College and Trinity College (CT).
