NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – TCNJ head softball coach Sally Miller earned her 722nd career victory on Sunday, surpassing legendary coach Dr. June Walker for the program record. The Lions defeated Gwynedd Mercy, 13-0, in a five-inning mercy rule victory.
In her 29th season, Miller holds a 722-353-3 record, and she's only had two teams in her 28 completed seasons finish with a sub-.500 record. The Lions have been to the NCAA tournament 14 times under Miller, and she guided the team to the 1996 NCAA championship.
The game that brought Miller to the record was anticlimactic, and that was due to the TCNJ offense butchering the ball to the tune of 12 runs in the first two innings.
In the first, the Lions batted around on their way to seven runs. The first three hitters all reached on extra-base hits. Kaci Neveling led off with a triple, and Mckayla Yard and Julia Kinnally each followed with doubles.
Gianna Vazquez and Morgan Estelow had back-to-back two-run hits later in the inning. Vazquez had the team's third double of the inning to make it 5-0, and Estelow's single to right center pushed the lead to 7-0.
The Lions had two quick outs in the top of the second, but starting pitcher Maya Knasiak helped her own cause with a double off the wall in left center to spark a five-run inning. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Neveling scored two on a single to left. Yard followed with a two-run single, as well.
The 12 runs were plenty for Knasiak in the circle. She struck out eight and allowed just one ball, a fly out to center, to leave the infield. Gwynedd Mercy didn't get its only hit until its final at-bat in the fifth inning, and that was on a soft flare between Knasiak and second baseman Gianna Frino that gave neither a play at first base on the batter.
The Lions had 19 hits, led by Neveling's and Knasiak's three apiece. Yard, Kinally, Vazquez, Estelow and Rachel Alecci all had two hits. Ten different Lions scored a run.
TCNJ returns to action with a doubleheader against Oswego State on Monday beginning at 1 p.m.
