VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. – After an initial loss, the No. 18 TCNJ Softball team avoided elimination with a bounce back 1-0 victory over Manhattanville late on Friday to advance onto the Regionals championship game.
The Lions (31-10) were defeated in the first game of the day against the Marlins after costly mistakes proved too much to overcome, before quickly rebounding with a clutch, low-scoring victory against the Valiants to return to their winning ways.
GAME ONE (Virginia Wesleyan 9, TCNJ 3 - FINAL)
The Lions struck first in the bottom of the first. Catcher
Julia Mayernik recorded her 100th career hit came in the form of a sharp double down the leftfield line, scoring
Jaclyn Carifi and
Julia Kinnally to put the Lions up 2-0.
Virginia Wesleyan quickly rallied in the top of the second to tie the game at two apiece. The Marlins would take the lead an inning later by scoring two more to go up 4-2.
The Lions would slash the deficit in half in the bottom half of the third when a Mayernik sacrifice bunt scored Carifi for TCNJ's third run of the game.
The Marlins responded by adding three additional runs in the top of the fourth to go up 7-3. Virginia Wesleyan would ultimately go on to win the match 9-3, sending the Lions into a must-win elimination game later in the afternoon.
Kinnally finished the game with three hits and reached base four total times. Mayernik and senior
Alexis Rizzo each recorded two hits, with the catcher also throwing out her second baserunner of Regionals in the game. Carifi rounded out the Lions' hitting with a hit.
GAME TWO (TCNJ 1, Manhattanville 0 - FINAL)
With both teams facing elimination and determined to be the one to advance onto Saturday, the game would become a hard fought pitcher's duel between TCNJ's
Elizabeth Gosse and Manhattanville's Shinstine in which both pitchers went the distance and neutralized each other's offenses the entire game.
The bottom of the third saw the Lions' defense make two superb defensive plays. To start,
Julia Kinnally made an athletic diving tag out for the first out of the bottom half inning, before Mayernik threw out her third base stealer of the weekend to close out the inning.
The Lions catcher added on to her caught stealing totals in the bottom of the fifth when she threw out her fourth base stealer on another perfectly timed throw down to second base.
Manhattanville nearly broke through the scoreless game first in the bottom of the sixth, when a Valiants' third batter landed a two-out triple down the rightfield line. However, staying composed, Gosse managed to immediately get out of the inning by forcing a pop up to Kinnally at shortstop.
The Lions finally broke through Shinstine's dominant pitching in the top of the seventh, when senior
Jaclyn Carifi lifted a single to right field that scored freshman
Ashley O'Hagan from second after the Manhattanville catcher was called for obstruction at the plate. The Lions led 1-0 heading into the bottom half of the final inning.
Closing out the elimination game herself, Gosse struck out the first batter looking before forcing a weak groundout to
Camryn Kitchin at first. The freshman would punch out the final Valiants' batter to send the Lions onto Saturday's Regionals finals.
Gosse collected her 15th win of the season and completed her 11th complete game as well. She finished with five strikeouts while only allowing four hits.
At the plate, Neveling and Carifi each had two hits apiece, while freshman
Reina Jeronimo drew three walks.
UP NEXT
With the hard fought win, the Lions advance onto Saturday's NCAA Regional Title game, with the first pitch scheduled at noon. The blue and gold will need to beat Virginia Wesleyan in consecutive games to win the region and advance onto the Super Regionals round.
