The College of New Jersey Athletics

GALLOWAY, N.J. - The TCNJ softball team got redemption in its NJAC semifinal matchup against Stockton Thursday afternoon, capitalizing on smart baserunning and a complete game in the circle from Maya Knasiak to upset the top-seeded Ospreys, 2-1, and advance to Saturday's NJAC Championship series.
 
Knasiak, who was forced to exit early in the Lions' regular-season matchup against Stockton, went the distance this time around, allowing just four hits and fanning nine batters to secure her 15th win – and 14th complete game – of the season.
 
The Ospreys (30-7) looked destined to score the game's opening run after getting runners in scoring position in three of the first four innings, but Knasiak did well to get herself out of the jam each time before it was TCNJ (25-13) breaking the scoreless tie in the fifth.
 
After Grace Brouillard went down to start the frame, Morgan Estelow and Olivia Santos responded with back-to-back singles up the middle to put two on with one out. Gianna Vazquez continued the rally with another single to left that would have loaded the bases, but an errant throw trying to catch Estelow rounding third allowed the senior to score, giving the Lions the ever-important 1-0 lead.
 
The turn between the fifth and sixth innings then belonged to Knasiak, who retired the side in the circle before leading off the sixth with a double to left center. Brooke Hamaty entered as a pinch runner, advancing to third on a single by Emily Evans before diving beautifully around an attempted tag at home following a Brouillard sac fly to double TCNJ's advantage.
 
A 1-2-3 sixth inning extended Knasiak's streak of retired batters to nine, but a leadoff home run in the bottom of the seventh cut the Lions' lead in half and gave Stockton new life. Knasiak, however, remained unphased, sandwiching a grounder to short around her eighth and ninth strikeouts of the afternoon, the last of which sealed the upset victory and punched TCNJ's ticket to the championship.
 
STANDOUT LIONS

• Knasiak (15-4): CG, 1 ER, 9 K, 1 2B
  • Became the fastest player in program history to reach 400 career strikeouts
• Santos: 2-3, 1 BB
• Evans: 2-3

UP NEXT

• The Lions will take on 17th-ranked and second-seeded Rowan in a best-of-three NJAC Championship series. Two games will be played Saturday, May 2 beginning at 1 p.m., with a third game to be played if necessary Sunday, May 3.