EWING, N.J. - The TCNJ softball team celebrated its seniors the only way they know how Saturday afternoon, with a sweep of William Paterson in the Lions' regular season finale. TCNJ took Game 1, 11-0 before completing the sweep and earning the team's seventh straight win with a 7-1, Game 2 victory.
 
The Lions celebrated the decorated careers of their three seniors: Rachel Alecci, Julia Roessler and Mckayla Yard as well as graduate students Julia Kinnally and Kaci Neveling after Saturday's games.
 
GAME 1: TCNJ 11, William Paterson 0 (5 inn.)
 
TCNJ (23-13, 15-3 NJAC) was firing on all cylinders in Game 1, pairing multi-RBI games throughout the lineup with a one-hit, complete game shutout from Maya Knasiak en route to the 11-0 win.
 
After Knasiak retired the side in the first inning, it took just two hits for the Lions to take a lead they would hold the rest of the way. Neveling opened the home half with a single to left, advancing the second with her first stolen base of the afternoon. Morgan Estelow moved the graduate student to third, but location didn't matter as it was Kinnally launching one over the center field wall to give TCNJ a quick 2-0 lead.
 
Yard started a second rally with a double to left, scoring on the ensuing at-bat – a Camryn Kitchin single – to make it 3-0 Lions after one.
 
Neveling added an RBI to her tally with a single in the second that scored Olivia Santos before consecutive base knocks from Kitchin, Knasiak and Gianna Vazquez ballooned the lead to 7-0. The fourth inning told more of the same story, with Kinnally, Yard and Kitchin striking again to bring home four runs in the frame, setting the game up for an early end.
 
Knasiak re-entered the circle for the final time and did just that, retiring the side to secure the Lions the 11-0, Game 1 win
 
STANDOUT LIONS

• Knasiak: 5 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 6 K
• Kinnally: 3-3, 3 RBIs, 2 R, 1 HR
• Yard: 2-3, 2 RBIs, 2 2B
• Kitchin: 3-3, 2 RBIs, 1 R

GAME 2: TCNJ 7, William Paterson 1
 
The Lions' final regular season game was more tightly contested through its midway point before TCNJ pulled away late for the 7-1 win.
 
The Pioneers (16-18, 8-10 NJAC) scored the contest's first run in the opening inning, capitalizing on a wild pitch by Elizabeth Gosse to take the 1-0 lead. That deficit was short-lived, however, with the Lions tacking on two of their own in the home half to take a 2-1 lead.
 
A stalemate ensued over the next three innings before TCNJ added multiple runs to their lead in both the fifth and sixth innings to take control.
 
Estelow started the fifth with a single up the middle, stealing second before a Kinnally single scored the junior – Kinnally was thrown out on the play trying to reach second. Sara Vincent stepped up to the plate and hit a single herself, with another Yard double bringing pinch runner Jules Fuchs across home plate to build the lead to 4-1.
 
Julia Roessler – who had entered the game in the top of the fifth in relief – tossed another strong sixth inning, setting up TCNJ to score three more in the home half of the inning and put the game out of reach.
 
Vazquez stayed hot with a single to lead off the inning, advancing to second on a fielding error. Olivia Gist entered as a pinch hitter and took one off the arm to put two on, with a Neveling double – the 250th hit of the graduate student's decorated career – scoring both Vazquez and Santos, who had re-entered after Gist got on base.
 
With the lead now at 7-0, Roessler returned for her final inning at Dr. June Walker Field and allowed a lone base runner via an error before forcing a grounder to grab the 7-1 win and series sweep.
 
STANDOUT LIONS

• Roessler: 3 IP, 0 ER, 1 H
• Neveling: 2-3, 2 RBIs, 2 R

UP NEXT

• The Lions had already secured the second seed and a first round bye in the upcoming NJAC Tournament earlier in the week. As a result TCNJ will await the winner of the third- and sixth-seeded teams in the second round, with the game to be played Saturday, May 3.