SALISBURY, MD. – The TCNJ softball team closed out a successful spring break trip by splitting a pair of games against Carnegie Mellon and No. 2 Salisbury at the Margie Knight Tournament on Saturday.
The Lions (9-3) fell behind by four runs early to Carnegie Mellon to begin the day, but ended the game scoring five unanswered runs to complete an impressive 6-5 extra innings comeback victory. In the circle,
Maya Knasiak struck out four batters in the first 4.1 innings, before
Julia Roessler closed out the match with a punch out in 3.2 innings to secure her fourth win on the year.
Game two saw TCNJ fall behind big against Salisbury from the onset, and were unable to successfully mount another comeback to eventually suffer a 12-5 defeat.
GAME ONE (TCNJ 6, CARNEGIE MELLON 5 – 8 INNINGS)
- After Carnegie Mellon (1-2) struck first in the top of the first, TCNJ responded in the bottom of the inning on a Julia Kinnally sacrifice fly to score Neveling from third. The super senior was active on the basepaths, picking up a pair of steals after initially reaching first on an error from Carnegie Mellon's shortstop.
- The Tartans attempted to pull away in the middle innings, first scoring a pair of runs in the top of the fourth off a triple and a sacrifice fly, before driving in two more in the fifth to go up 5-1.
- In the bottom of the fifth, with freshman Gianna Frino on first, Neveling slashed the Tartans' lead in half with a momentum shifting two-run homer to right field, which gave the Lions a more manageable 5-3 deficit.
- After a three-up, three-down top of the sixth from Roessler, sophomore Camryn Kitchin continued the blue and gold's rally with an RBI double down right field, scoring classmate Angelina Marrano from second base. Marrano entered the game as a pinch runner for senior Julia Mayernik, who had doubled to left field.
- Kinnally would tie the game in bottom of seventh, completing the furious TCNJ comeback on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left field to score Frino. The freshman pinch ran for junior Rachel Alecci, who was hit by a pitch to leadoff the inning, and was followed by a pair of walks from Neveling and sophomore Morgan Estelow.
- In extra innings, freshman Sara Vincent walked it off with a single to centerfield to complete the Lions comeback. The freshman fully took advantage of sophomore Elizabeth Gosse being placed on second to start the bottom of the eighth.
GAME TWO (SALISBURY 12, TCNJ 5)
- The game got out of hand early, with Salisbury (7-1) quickly putting up nine unanswered runs on offense to pull away after just two innings.
- In the top of the third, the Lions offense chipped away at the deficit, scoring a pair of runs after loading the bases with one out. An RBI walk from Kitchin drove in Neveling for the first score, before an RBI groundout from Alecci scored Estelow to make it 9-2.
- TCNJ continued their comeback bid in the top of the fifth after a Vincent single to left field drove in both Kinnally and Estelow, cutting the deficit down to 9-4.
- However, the Sea Gulls added back to their lead in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single to go up by 10-4 over TCNJ.
- The top of the sixth saw the Lions once again cut the lead down to five on an Estelow single to right centerfield to score freshman Ryleigh Manning. But Salisbury immediately responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to clinch the win.
STANDOUT LIONS
- Vincent finished the day going 3-for-8 with three RBIs to go along with her game winning hit in game one.
- Neveling had a monster game one against Carnegie Mellon, hitting 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, runs and steals to go with her homer.
- In game two, Estelow hit 2-for-4 to go along with two runs scored and an RBI
- Kinnally hit 2-for-4 with a run scored against Salisbury
TCNJ TEAM BREAKDOWN
- Game one: TCNJ finished with six hits, three walks and two stolen bases as a team
- Game two: TCNJ recorded eight hits and four walks
UP NEXT
The Lions are back in action on the road at Drew for a Wednesday doubleheader. First pitch is set for 2 PM.
