EWING, N.J. – Julia Mayernik's go-ahead homer and a valiant complete-game effort from
Ally Schlee in the circle led the TCNJ softball team to a thrilling come-from-behind victory in Game 1 of an NJAC split with No. 16 Rowan on Tuesday.
Mayernik's clutch blast gave the Lions (18-5, 6-2) a hard-fought 3-2 win over a Profs side that came in on an 11-game winning streak and had not lost in more than three weeks. Rowan turned the tables in the nightcap with an 11-1 win in six innings.
Game 1: TCNJ 3, Rowan 2
The Profs got on the board first, striking for a pair of second-inning runs as Grace Shukaitis dropped an RBI single into the right-center gap, and Rowan grabbed another run on the play as the ball bounded away from TCNJ outfielder
Lindsay Zengel and allowed the runner on first to come all the way around the bases.
Schlee got out of a jam in the third, when Rowan had two on with no outs and ultimately stranded the bases loaded.
Lauren Conroy fielded a ground ball and stepped on the third-base bag before firing to first to complete a double play and then, with the bases loaded, went down to a knee to snag a hard-hit grounder and tag the base for the final out of the frame. Rowan had seven hits in the first three innings, but left five runners on base and was unable to expand its lead beyond the two runs.
Held down for three-plus innings, the Lions cut the deficit in half when
Kayla Hillenbrand had the green light on a 3-0 pitch and sent a majestic blast high over the fence in left-center field for her third homer of the season.
Zengel started the game-turning rally with a sharp single up the middle to lead off the fifth. She slid around the tag at second for a stolen base. Two batters later, Mayernik jumped all over the first pitch she saw and blasted a two-out, two-run homer to dead center to give the Lions a 3-2 lead. It was TCNJ's first hit of the afternoon with a runner on base.
After her early struggles, Schlee settled into a dominant rhythm, retiring eight Profs in a row at one point. The Profs had a runner on first with one out and a 3-1 count, but the junior got a grounder to Conroy to trigger an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
Schlee got the best of a 10-pitch battle to open the seventh, then shut the door on Rowan with a groundout to first and a looper to second to run her record to 8-0. She worked around eight hits, walking one with one strikeout.
Hillenbrand (2-for-3, RBI, R) and Zengel (2-for-2, R) each had multi-hit games for the Lions.
Carifi went 0-for-3, ending her hitting streak at 18 games.
Game 2: Rowan 11, TCNJ 1
The Profs got out to an early lead again in Game 2, scoring twice in the top of the first thanks to three walks and a pair of RBI singles. Yard, however, came back from a 3-0 count to get a strikeout for the second out and escaped without further damage on a grounder to Conroy at third.
Neveling answered right back in the bottom half, singling up the middle and taking second on a wild pitch before going to third on a bunt by
Camryn Davies and sliding in just under the tag on a wild pitch to the backstop.
Rowan countered in its next at-bat, going back up by two on Grace Shukaitis' solo homer, and tacked on three more runs in the fourth to make it 6-1.
The Profs went wild for five runs in the sixth to end the game early.
Neveling and Carifi each finished 2-for-3 for the Lions.
