Glassboro, NJ: The #2 seeded College of New Jersey Lions defeated the #3 seeded Ramapo College Roadrunners, 4-0, in the NJAC Championship game this afternoon. The Lions (29-9 overall) earn the league's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Softball Tournament. The Roadrunners move to 32-12-1 overall and will wait to see if they are given an at-large bid to the tournament. The NCAA selection show will air on Monday, May 15th at 1pm on
www.ncaa.com.
The game was a pitcher's duel until the top of the fifth inning when TCNJ struck for two runs with two outs to get on the board. With one out, Kaci Neveling hit into a fielder's choice to get on base with two outs before Jaclyn Carifi poked a single up the middle to put two on and two out. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch before Julia Kinnally plated both runs with a big double off the left field fence, 2-0.
TCNJ got out of jams in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, the Roadrunners had two on with two out before the Lions induced a foul out to the catcher to end the inning. Following a leadoff triple in the bottom of the sixth for the Roadrunners, TCNJ starting pitcher Elizabeth Gosse was lifted for reliever Ally Schlee. Schlee was able to get out of the inning with a lineout, a play at the plate with a tag by Schlee and a pop up to second base to end the inning and preserve the 2-0 lead. The Lions added two runs in the top of the seventh to extend their lead aided by a Ramapo error, 4-0. TCNJ would record a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh to capture the program's 14th NJAC Tournament Title.
Gosse (14-3) walked two, and did not strike out a Roadrunner on the day while she gave up just three hits in five complete innings of work. Schlee earned her second save of the season as she kept Ramapo off the scoreboard in the final two innings of action without giving up a hit.
Kassy Stefanski (11-4) struck out six, walked none and scattered six hits in five innings of work in the tough loss for Ramapo.
Alex Hastings and
Alexis Corra each collected one hit for the Roadrunners.
