The College of New Jersey Athletics

GLASSBORO, N.J. - The TCNJ softball team split a pair of extra-inning grudge matches on Day 1 of its NJAC Championship series against 17th-ranked Rowan Saturday afternoon, taking Game 1, 3-2, before dropping Game 2 to force a winner-take-all Game 3 tomorrow.
 
GAME 1: TCNJ 3, Rowan 2 (8 Inn.)
 
Saturday's opener set the tone for an afternoon of softball predicated on pitching and defense, but it was the Lions (26-14) riding their seniors to force extra innings before freshman Morgan Leonhauser came up big with a leadoff home run in the eighth to clinch the Game 1 victory.
 
Starting pitcher Maya Knasiak fell victim to a tight zone in the first inning, walking a pair of batters before a single to center scored the first run of the game to give the Profs (35-8) the early 1-0 lead. TCNJ's deficit was short-lived, however, with a Morgan Estelow sac fly knotting things back at one in the next half inning.
 
Neither side was able to generate much at the plate as Knasiak and Rowan's BethAnne Doderer settled into the game, but an error to kick off the home-half of the fourth set the stage for an RBI triple to give the Profs back the lead at 2-1.
 
The Lions continued to struggle against Doderer – TCNJ could only muster a walk between their fifth- and sixth-inning at-bats – before finally breaking through in the seventh to force extra innings.
 
Emily Evans led off the inning with a walk before making way for Jessica Sclafani as a pinch runner. Grace Brouillard laid down a bunt to move the sophomore to second, with a flyout moving her to third. Now down to their last out, Olivia Santos stepped to the plate and sent the first pitch she saw over the head of Rowan's left fielder, scoring Sclafani to tie the game at two.
 
Elizabeth Gosse, who had entered the game in relief in the fifth inning, allowed a lone single in the bottom of the seventh before a fly out to center forced extras for the third time in as many meetings between the sides.
 
Whereas TCNJ's seniors got them to this point in the game, all eyes turned to Leonhauser in the eighth, who worked herself to a 3-1 count before crushing a no-doubter to left field to give the Lions their first lead of the afternoon. Gosse returned in the home half and coolly retired the side to clinch a crucial Game 1 victory.
 
STANDOUT LIONS

• Gosse (7-5): 3.2 IP, 1 hit allowed, 0 ER, 5 Ks
• Leonhauser: 2-4, 1 HR
• Santos: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 3B

GAME 2: TCNJ 1, Rowan 2 (10 Inn.)
 
Saturday's rematch featured fewer runs in more innings, but this time it was the Profs pulling out the one-run, extra-inning victory to force a winner-take-all Game 3 Sunday.
 
Knasiak – who broke TCNJ's single-season strikeout record with her 169th of the year in the first inning – and Rowan's Emily McCutcheon went toe-to-toe early on, allowing just one baserunner each through the first four frames before the Profs jumped in front in the fifth.
 
A leadoff double set the hosts up with the first runner in scoring position of the afternoon before what was initially called interference on a groundout during the next at-bat that should have resulted in two outs was inexplicably overturned, with the continued AB instead resulting in a single that put runners on the corners.
 
Gosse entered for Knasiak and picked up right where she left off in Game 1, allowing a lone RBI single before retiring the next three batters to limit the damage. The senior then pitched herself out of a two-on, one-out jam in the sixth before TCNJ's bats finally came alive in the home half of the inning.
 
Santos started the rally with a single to right, advancing to second on a sac bunt by Gianna Vazquez before it was Morgan Leonhauser answering the call once again with a liner back up the middle that scored Santos to tie the game at one.
 
Defense reigned supreme as both sides were held scoreless through the next three innings to send the game into the 10th, where a single to shallow right put Rowan back up 2-1. The Lions had a chance to rally with runners on second and third and two outs, but a grounder to third ended the day in a split.
 
STANDOUT LIONS

• Gosse (7-6): 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 K
• Leonhauser: 2-4, 1 RBI

UP NEXT

• The Lions will return to Glassboro Sunday, May 3 for a winner-take-all Game 3 against the Profs. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.