New Jersey City University Athletics

STATEN ISLAND, NY…Junior right-hander ANDREA DELUCREZIA (Belleville, NJ/St. Mary’s-Rutherford) fired her fifth career complete-game shutout and her second of the season as New Jersey City University pounded out 10 hits and blanked the College of Staten Island, 10-0, in five innings, in the second game of a non-conference doubleheader at the CSI Softball Complex late Thursday. Staten Island scored three times in the sixth inning of game one to put away an 8-3 win.

 

With the split, NJCU is 16-22 overall with two games remaining in the season. CSI is 17-20 overall. NJCU has won two of the last three meetings between the schools but the Dolphins own a slim 15-13 lead in the 27-year-old series.

 

NJCU, which has already set a single-season team record with 15 triples, achieved its second major offensive team mark, with 1,005 at bats for the season, breaking the mark of 981 set just last year.

 

***********GAME 1: College of Staten Island 8, New Jersey City University 3 ***********

NJCU opened a 2-0 lead in the opening inning, but the Dolphins scored four times in the third inning for a 5-2 lead and added three important insurance run in the sixth to cap the win.

 

NJCU was limited to five hits, and sophomore first baseman/rightfielder CHRISTINA PROSPERO (Secaucus, NJ/Secaucus) was the lone Gothic Knight with multiple hits, going 2-for-4.

 

CSI freshman Krysta Kinsella (Middletown, NJ) was the winner (10-12), allowing one earned run and five hits with five walks and four strikeouts. Senior shortstop Nicole Estrada (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs while freshman second baseman Raechel Strobel (Staten Island, NY/Curtis) was 2-for-4 with two runs. The Dolphins also received a 2-for-4 effort from freshman leftfielder Alyssa D’Elia (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph by the Sea) and two RBIs from sophomore designated player Tina Bellocchio (Staten Island, NY/St. John Villa).

 

NJCU took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when sophomore centerfielder TARA PERRUCCI (Wallington, NJ/Wallington) drew a bases loaded walk before sophomore third baseman CHRISTEN HALL (East Rutherford, NJ/Becton Regional) scored on one of three CSI errors.

 

CSI got a run back in the second on an RBI bunt single by Bellocchio before tacking on four in the third. Estrada had a two-run double in the frame before Bellocchio grounded out for the final run of the inning and a 5-2 lead.

 

The Knights closed within two runs in the fifth inning on an RBI bases loaded walk by freshman catcher TAYLOR LANG (Carteret, NJ/Carteret). But an RBI single by Estrada and an RBI double by D’Elia sandwiched around an NJCU error added three runs for the opposition in the sixth inning, as the Dolphins won 8-3.

 

NJCU sophomore righty LACEY SKOWRONSKI (Bayonne, NJ/Holy Family Academy) took the loss (8-11) for NJCU, allowing seven earned runs, with four walks and three strikeouts.

 

********GAME 2: New Jersey City University 10, College of Staten Island (5 innings) *********

Game two was all NJCU, offensively and on the mound behind Delucrezia, who for the fifth time this season did not allowed a run over the first five innings of a game. In 5.0 innings, she struck out two and walked one, allowing just one extra base hit during her six-hitter, improving to 6-11.

 

NJCU did their scoring in bunches as five runs were plated in the second and third innings, as nine batters came up in each inning.

 

The biggest bat was Skowronski’s, the first baseman in the game, as she was 3-for-3 with two runs. She smacked a solo homerun to lead off the third inning—her third of the season and fourth of her career. That homerun was the 11^th of the season by NJCU, two shy of the single-season team mark of 13 set in 2000.

 

Also for NJCU senior shortstop SUSIE MATSUTANI (Gallup, NM/Gallup), hitting in the leadoff spot for the first time this season, drove in three runs while freshman second baseman DANIELLE DELFINO (Jersey City, NJ/County Prep) who batted second for the first time, finished 2-for-4. NJCU also received a 2-for-3 effort with two runs from freshman designated player CAITLIN LUNDBERG (Jersey City, NJ/St. Dominic Academy) and two RBIs and two runs from freshman rightfielder JORDAN POTTER (Jersey City, NJ/County Prep). Prospero walked twice for NJCU, scoring two times as well.

 

CSI’s only player with multiple hits was junior catcher Marianne Tepedino (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph by the Sea), who was 2-for-3. Junior pitcher Kari Drew Varriale (Staten Island, NY/Moore) was the loser (6-8), allowing 10 earned runs, with four walks and one strikeout.

 

NJCU received all the offense it would need in the second inning as Skowronski led off with her 11^th double of the season and scored on a single by Lang. A two-run single by Potter and two-run single by Matsutani expanded NJCU’s margin to 5-0.

 

Skowronski’s leadoff bomb and an RBI double by Lundberg made it 7-0 in the third. After an error allowed Prospero to cross home with enough offense to enforce the eight-run rule, Matsutani added an RBI groundout as part of her eighth multiple-RBI game this season, while increasing her season total to 34 ribbies. Delfino capped the scoring with an RBI single as NJCU won 10-0.

 

NJCU will conclude the 2008 season on Saturday, April 26 at 1 p.m. when it hosts Richard Stockton College in a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex. NJCU will honor two-year captain Matsutani, one of the top players in school history and the lone senior on this year’s team, between games of the twinbill.