The College’s softball team continued its playoff chase by losing two games and winning two games in the past week. The wins and losses give the Lions an overall record of 22-10 and an 8-6 NJAC record.
The Lions began last week by losing a pair of games to William Patterson University, by scores of 7-6 and 8-3, on April 21.
“The games against William Paterson were tough,” junior oufielder Crystal Lee said. “We actually played really well in the first game. We had a lot of great hits and we played solid defense, but the other team was just able to manufacture more runs than us. In the second game, they capitalized on some of our team’s miscues and we just weren’t able to score as many runs as we did in the first game.”
The Lions jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, led by senior outfielder Colleen Cawley.
The lead stretched to 4-0 in the third inning, but the Pioneers responded with three runs in the bottom of the third, two more in the bottom of the fourth and another two runs in the bottom of the fifth to give them the 7-4 lead. The Lions plated two more runs off a RBI single from sophomore shortstop Ashley Sogulzzio’s bat and a catcher’s interference call. The runs weren’t enough, as the Lions fell to the Pioneers 7-6.
In the second game, both teams plated a run in the first inning, and the score was knotted at 1-1 until the top of the fourth. The Pioneers scored two runs in the top of the fourth and four more in the top of the fifth to push the score to 7-1. They did not look back from there, finishing the game with an 8-3 victory. Lions freshman pitcher Alex Carisone took the loss, yielding seven runs (four earned) in 4.2 innings pitched.
The Lions took two games against New Jersey City University with scores of 10-2 and 5-3, on April 22.
“We knew that we needed to come ready to play for the games against Jersey City,” Lee said. “Our goal for the NJCU games were to win every inning, meaning that even if the opponent scored or made a nice play, we would somehow do something even better to win that inning.”
The Lions set the tone in the first game by scoring three runs in the first inning, two off the bat of sophomore third baseman Kelly Hommen. The Lions continued their offensive barrage by scoring in every inning of the game. Hommen finished with a huge game with three hits and four RBI. Junior pitcher Lauren Fitzsimmons was also outstanding, as she tossed a complete-game one-hitter to give the Lions the decisive victory.
In the second game, the team used a big, four-run second inning to give them the victory. The Lions had two triples in the inning, one from senior Caitlyn Seamster and one from Lee. NJCU got a run back in the third, only to see the lead pushed back to four as Sogluizzo singled in a run. The Gothic Knights tacked on two more runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but the runs were not enough. Carisone picked up the victory, giving her a team-high of eight wins on the season.
The Lions currently sit fifth in the NJAC with an 8-6 record and only have four games left to push for a higher seed.
