Ewing, NJ: The College of New Jersey softball team rebounded from its first-round loss to defeat Ramapo College 4-1 in the second round of the 2010 New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Lions (31-7) received clutch performances from a pair of seniors as Ashley Minervini (Cliffside Park, NJ/Cliffside Park) provide a sterling effort on the mound and Dani Hagel (Egg Harbor City, NJ/Oakcrest) ripped two doubles, a single, and drove in three runs. TCNJ advances to take on the loser of Rowan University/Kean University match-up tomorrow at noon.
Minervini struck out a season-high 10 batters en route to her 15th win of the season. The right-hander scattered six and walked none
After two scoreless innings, TCNJ’s offense came to life to plate a pair of runs. Freshman Ashely Sogluizzo (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) stroked a one-double to left and came home when senior Ellen Seavers (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) ripped a base hit to left field giving the Lions their first lead of the tournament. Hagel followed with a double off the fence in left field scoring Seavers to stretch the lead to 2-0.
The Roadrunners threatened in the third with a double and infield single off the bats of
Kelsey Higgins (Wall, NJ) and
Katie Donnelly (North Haledon, NJ/Eastern Christian), but Minervini responded with a strikeout and a groundout to thwart the Ramapo rally.
Ramapo cut the lead in half when shortstop
Tiffany Fischer (Woodcliff Lake, NJ/Pascack Hills) belted an RBI double to left-center field. With the tying run on second, Minervini got the strikeout she needed to escape any more damage.
TCNJ struck back as freshman Kelly Hommen (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) led off the fifth with a clean single to center field and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Seavers. Hagel then launched her second, run-scoring double of the game to center field to increase the lead to 3-1.
Hagel came up with a runner on third in the seventh and provided an insurance run lacing a ball through the middle to make it a 4-1 game.
Ramapo was eliminated from the NJAC tournament and falls to 27-15 on the year, they will now wait news on a possible NCAA Tournament or ECAC Tournament bid which will be announced Monday afternoon.