SALISBURY, Md. – The TCNJ softball team put up a pair of impressive pitching performances on Saturday, shutting out King's by a 3-0 count before suffering a 1-0 setback in nine innings of a pitcher's duel with Susquehanna on the first day of Salisbury's Margie Knight Classic.
 
Maya Knasiak spun a four-hit shutout and drove in the go-ahead run in the opener with King's, and TCNJ extended its scoreless streak to 15 frames before the River Hawks walked it off on the game's lone run in the bottom of the ninth.
 
Game 1: TCNJ 3, King's 0
Knasiak only needed one run in the opener, and it came courtesy of her own bat as she delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first to score Olivia Santos, who drew a one-out walk and stole second.
 
The Lions tagged the King's starter for another in the second as Morgan Estelow stole second, went to third on a groundout by Mckayla Yard, and dashed home on a grounder by Camryn Kitchin.
 
Knasiak worked her way around a two-on, one-out jam in the fifth, and the Lions gave her one more insurance run on Julia Kinnally's RBI double in the bottom half.
 
Knasiak stranded a runner in each of the final two frames, punctuating the shutout with her 10^th strikeout of the afternoon.
 
Rachel Alecci and Gianna Vazquez each went 2-for-3 at the plate in the opener.
 
Knasiak (4-1) conceded four hits and a pair of walks, whiffing 10 Monarchs for her sixth career shutout.
 
Game 2: Susquehanna 1, TCNJ 0 (9)
Elizabeth Gosse matched Brianna Jones zero for zero until the sixth, working out of a bases loaded jam in the third before ultimately exiting in favor Sairah Llano with two outs in the bottom of the sixth after Kaci Neveling had thrown out a runner trying to take third on a fly ball after a leadoff double.
 
With two on, Llano came on and induced an inning-ending groundout.
 
With a runner on second to start the eighth, the Lions had Vazquez on third with one out but could not get her home. Llano, however, came up big and kept the River Hawks off the board in the bottom half.
 
After a scoreless top of the ninth, Susquehanna walked it off on a one-out double.
 
Gosse pitched 5.2 scoreless innings, surrendering five hits and walking three while striking out a pair. Llano allowed just the one run – not charged to her – and two its while recording eight outs in the circle.
 
Kinnally and Kitchin each finished with two hits and a double.
 
UP NEXT

• TCNJ takes on a pair of top-20 teams tomorrow in No. 20 Tufts and No. 13 Salisbury