New Jersey City University Athletics

 

JERSEY CITY, NJ…In the 2007 New Jersey Athletic Conference opener for both schools Rutgers University-Camden, the defending Division III national champions, survived two strong pitching efforts and a valiant challenge from a young New Jersey City University squad, before sweeping a doubleheader from the Gothic Knights on Saturday at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex. The score in each game was 4-2.

 

With the wins, Camden improves to 13-7 overall and 2-0 in the NJAC, while the Knights drop to 4-12 and 0-2. Game one was knotted at 2-2 with two outs in the top of the seventh before senior shortstop Alaina Giles (Willingboro, NJ/Holy Cross) delivered a two-run single to help the Scarlet Raptors survive.

 

***********************GAME 1: Rutgers University-Camden 4, NJCU 2*********************

               

Giles was 3-for-4 for the Raptors with the two RBIs in game one, while junior first baseman Kathleen Dreitlein (Berkeley Heights, NJ/Governor Livingston) finished 2-for-3 with one run. Senior catcher Mo Baney (Deptford, NJ/Deptford) was 2-for-4.

               

Senior rightfielder Autumn Millett (Richwood, NJ/Clearview Regional) was limited to a 1-for-4 effort, but that one hit was a solo homerun to lead off the fifth inning, which extended her hitting streak to 14 games. It was her 10^th homerun of the season—tying the Camden single-season record of 10 by Becky Johnson in 2004.

               

NJCU junior catcher VANESSA NICOLICH (Cliffside Park, NJ/St. Mary’s-Rutherford) and freshman first baseman REANNON TROGDON (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown Regional) were each 1-for-3 with a double.

 

Senior right-hander Megan Farrell (Medford, NJ/Bishop Eustace Prep) won for Camden to improve to 4-2. She allowed two runs (none earned) and three hits with six strikeouts and two walks in seven innings. Sophomore right-hander ANDREA DELUCREZIA (Belleville, NJ/St. Mary’s-Rutherford) was also solid. Despite allowing 11 hits, she surrendered only four runs, with four strikeouts and four walks.

 

Baney gave the Raptors a 1-0 lead in the third with an RBI single, before NJCU built a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Freshman first baseman REANNON TROGDON (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown Regional) doubled and Nicolich doubled her in for the tying run, before scoring on an error herself. Millett’s homerun tied the game before Giles knocked in the winning runs in the seventh.

 

***********************GAME 2: Rutgers University-Camden 4, NJCU 2*********************

Each team had eight hits in game two, but Camden scored twice in the third and two more in the fifth to build a 4-1 lead after NJCU had gone ahead 1-0.

 

Sophomore right-handed pitcher/centerfielder Marissa Van Cleef (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and one run for Camden, while Millett was 2-for-3 with one RBI. The two hits extended her hitting streak to 15 games, and gave her 164 for her career—two shy of the school record.

 

Nicolich and junior shortstop SUSIE MATSUTANI (Gallup, NM/Gallup) each went 2-for-3 with one run scored for the Knights, while freshman second baseman LACEY SKOWRONSKI (Bayonne, NJ/Holy Family Academy) was 2-for-2. Freshman leftfielder KRYSTINA KINGSTON (Mountainside, NJ/Governor Livingston) was 1-for-2 with one RBI.

 

Van Cleef started for the Raptors, going 3.0 innings, while allowing one earned run and four hits with one strikeout, leaving with her team behind 1-0. Sophomore right-hander Natalie Powell (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) pitched the final three innings to earn the win (4-2). She also allowed one run and four hits, with two strikeouts and one walk.

 

Trogdon tossed a complete-game effort for NJCU, allowing four runs and eight hits, with four strikeouts and two walks.

 

Kingston’s sac fly gave NJCU a 1-0 lead in the top of the third before Van Cleef notched a two-run double in the bottom of the inning. Back-to-back RBI singles by Van Cleef and Millett in the fifth made it 4-1. NJCU got one run back in the sixth.

 

NJCU returns to action on Tuesday, April 3 at 3 p.m. when it hosts Kean University in an NJAC doubleheader. Camden hosts Ramapo College in a meeting of 2006 College World Series qualifiers that day at 3:30 p.m.