New Jersey City University Athletics

 

MADISON, NJ…For a young team building towards the future, the 2007 season finale for the New Jersey City University softball team definitely gave the Gothic Knights encouragement for 2008. Junior shortstop SUSIE MATSUTANI (Gallup, NM/Gallup) collected two hits in each game and freshman third baseman CHRISTEN HALL (East Rutherford, NJ/Becton Regional) went 3-for-4 in game one as NJCU reeled off a pair of one-run victories, sweeping Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham, 9-8 and 3-2 on Monday.

 

NJCU concludes the 27^th season of softball at 13-26 overall, but the Knights won three of their final five games. FDU fell to 20-17 with the losses. While FDU still leads the all-time series, 19-7, NJCU snapped the Devils’ nine-game winning streak in the non-conference rivalry.

 

*********************GAME 1: NJCU 9, FDU-FLORHAM 8 *******************

In a game with a combined 26 hits, NJCU pounded out 12 hits, and rallied from a 5-2 deficit with seven runs in the fifth inning, before holding off a late inning rally by the Devils to win by one run.

 

Hall finished 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs, while freshman designated player #KRYSTINA CHRISTEN HALL" src="/images/softball/2007/4/30/03-26-07%20Christen%20Hall%2012.JPG" width=150 align=left border=0>KINGSTON# (Mountainside, NJ/Governor Livingston) was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and one run. Matsutani was 2-for-5 with one run, and junior catcher VANESSA NICOLICH (Cliffside Park, NJ/St. Mary’s (Rutherford)) was 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.

 

Sophomore right-hander ANDREA DELUCREZIA (Belleville, NJ/St. Mary’s (Rutherford)) held on to earn the win (7-12). In seven innings, she allowed all of FDU’s offense, but struck out four with two walks. At the plate, she aided her own cause with two crucial RBIs in a 1-for-3 showing.

 

For FDU, junior catcher Kelly Nover (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) was 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI, while freshman designated player Amy Beideman (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Sophomore rightfielder Jen Haas (Waterford, NJ/Hammonton) was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Junior Julie Hartnett (Riverton, NJ/Palmyra) took the loss for FDU (9-8), leaving after 4.1 innings, allowing all of NJCU’s runs.

 

NJCU opened a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Hall RBI single. FDU scored five times in the third inning, highlighted by a two-run double by Beideman, before moving in front 5-1 on a wild pitch. NJCU got one run back in the fourth on an RBI single by Kingston.

 

But NJCU’s offense surged in the fifth inning, as 11 batters came to the plate to account for the Knights’ biggest inning of the season—seven runs. RBI singles by Hall and freshman second baseman LACEY SKOWRONSKI (Bayonne, NJ/Holy Family Academy) made it 5-4. A two-run single by Delucrezia put the Knights in front to stay, 6-5. An RBI double by Kingston and Nicolich RBI single made it 8-5, before NJCU tacked on what would prove to be the winning run when Nicolich scored all the way from first base on an error.

 

Haas had an RBI double and scored on a Nover single in the fifth to close within 9-7, and Haas added an RBI single in the sixth for a 9-8 margin.

 

But Delucrezia settled down, retiring the final two batters in the sixth, before stopping the Devils in order in the seventh, with two strikeouts.

 

*********************GAME 2: NJCU 3, FDU-FLORHAM 2 *******************

In game two, freshman REANNON TROGDON (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown Regional) posted one REANNON TROGDON" src="/images/softball/2007/4/30/03-26-07%20Reannon%20Trogdon%2018.JPG" width=150 align=left border=0>of the top pitching performances of her young career, tossing a complete-game three-hitter with six strikeouts and three walks to earn the win (6-14).

 

NJCU had 10 hits overall as eight of nine players in the lineup collected at least one hit. Matsutani was 2-for-4 while rightfielder VANESSA SOLARES (Palisades Park, NJ/Palisades Park), NJCU’s lone senior, closed her career with a 2-for-3, one-run effort. Freshman first baseman TARA PERRUCCI (Wallington, NJ/Wallington) drove in the eventual winning run with a fourth-inning RBI single.

 

Beideman was FDU’s only offensive star. She accounted for both Devils’ runs with a fourth-inning two-run homerun.

 

NJCU jumped ahead 2-0 in the second inning as Hall and Skowronski each singled, and moved to third on a ground out. Kingston reached on a fielder’s choice, drawing the RBI when Hall scored. Nicolich then drove home Skowronski with an RBI single.

               

In the fourth inning, Solares and Matsutani each had hits, before Perrucci singled to score Solares for a 3-0 lead. Beideman posted her two-run homer in the bottom of the inning, but Trogdon limited the Devils to one hit the remainder of the game, striking out five in the final four innings.

               

Junior Kristin Loriot (Howell, NJ/Howell) took the loss for FDU (0-4), allowing three runs and 10 hits with one walk.