Box Score LEESBURG, Fla. – The No. 12 TCNJ softball team opened its spring break stay in Florida with a heartbreaking 8-7 defeat at the hands of Nebraska Wesleyan in an unscheduled contest on Saturday.

TCNJ wound up on the short end of a see-saw affair that featured 28 hits – 14 for each side – and took nearly three hours to complete. The No. 9 hitters in each lineup were the only two starters to go hitless, and the fifth inning was the only scoreless frame.

The Lions (1-1) got on top early thanks to Lauren Conroy's bat and stayed there thanks to Lindsay Zengel's arm. After Kaci Neveling led off with a single and took second on a sacrifice by Camryn Davies, Conroy ripped a single to center to put TCNJ on the board.

Nebraska Wesleyan (11-2) had three hits in its half of the first but was unable to push a run across due to a pair of assists from Zengel in right field. She threw out a runner trying to advance to third on a base hit and then, with a runner on second and two outs, ended the inning by gunning down Emma Alfieri at the plate as she tried to score on another single.

TCNJ capitalized right away, going ahead 2-0 on Julia Kinnally's RBI triple. Zengel contributed with the bat as well, stretching the lead to 3-0 on a sacrifice fly to score Kinnally.

The Prairie Wolves came right back and tied it in the second on a two-out, bases-clearing double by Hanna Roth, then went in front, 5-3, on back-to-back RBI singles by Alfieri and Val Gerlach.  

The Lions came right back in the third as Victoria Aspiazu singled with one out and scored on Julia Mayernik's double. They went ahead again one inning later, loading the bases with no outs as Kinnally and Neveling sandwiched hits around a Nebraska Wesleyan error before Camryn Davies kept the train moving with an RBI single to left. Conroy's sacrifice fly scored Zengel with the go-ahead run and, after Aspiazu re-loaded the bases with a one-out walk, Mayernik made it 7-5 with a sacrifice fly of her own.

After the Prairie Wolves racked up nine hits in the first two innings, Gillian Roberts came on and righted the ship, pitching four scoreless frames until Alfieri hit a two-out solo homer in the sixth. After the next batter reached on an error, Julia Roessler entered and induced a pop-up in her collegiate debut.

Roessler struck out the first batter she faced in the seventh, but walked the next two and was replaced by Alexandra DiBenedetto. She hit the next batter to load the bases with only one out, and Roth drew a walk in a long at-bat to force across the tying run before Paige Davison hit a walk-off single to left field.

Kinnally fell a homer short of the cycle with a 4-for-4 effort that included two runs scored and an RBI, while Neveling went 3-for-5 and scored twice. Mayernik was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Conroy matched her by driving in two runs. Every TCNJ starter except Zengel had a hit, and Zengel more than made up for it with the outfield assists plus a run scored and an RBI.

Roberts allowed just the one run on four hits with one strikeout and one walk in a stellar relief effort.

The Lions are slated to take on Wisconsin-Platteville (3 p.m.) and Defiance (5:15 p.m.) at Hancock Park in Clermont on Sunday.