JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | They were no style points involved but the New Jersey City University softball will head into the offseason on a two-game winning streak. NJCU overcame a blown lead in the seventh inning of game one and 12 combined errors to outlast Yeshiva University, 8-7, in eight innings in the opener, and took advantage of the opposing pitcher's wildness in game two for the tune of a 19-4 rout in five innings as the Gothic Knights swept a season-concluding non-conference doubleheader from the Maccabees on April 30 at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex.
 
After winning just twice in its first 32 games, the Knights (5-33) finished the season strong, going 3-3 in the final week of the season to finish with the same record as 2014, despite graduating both of its all-conference players from that squad. Yeshiva fell to 5-15. It was the first meeting between the schools. NJCU was playing its first extra-innings contest of the season.
 
In the opener, NJCU led 5-2 before three errors in the top of the seventh led to five runs (four unearned) on only three hits as Yeshiva stunned the Knights, taking a 7-5 lead. But the Maccabees returned the favor in the bottom of the seventh, committing two errors at third base—the second with two outs which allowed two unearned runs to come home, tying it at 7-7.
 
When Yeshiva failed to take advantage of the international tiebreaker in the top of the eighth, the Knights capitalized on a miscommunication in the bottom of the inning. With junior shortstop Thalia Garcia (Ridgefield, NJ/North Bergen) on second and sophomore left fielder/right-handed pitcher Brittany Paulikas (Fords, N.J./JFK-Iselin) at the plate, she lofted a catchable fly ball to right center. The Maccabees' right fielder called for the ball but the center fielder collided with her teammate, knocking the ball out of her glove. When the error rolled to the fence, Garcia trotted home with the winning run.
 
After game one lasted 2:15 minutes, NJCU did not have a lot of time to get game two in. But Yeshiva pitcher Erin Potasnick struggled in the circle as NJCU scored 16 times in the first two innings on just two hits. She wound up walked 12, hitting 10 batters and throwing seven wild pitches in 4.0 innings as NJCU prevailed with its largest margin of victory this season and the eight-run rule was enforced just before it became too dark to continue.

Garcia set a single-game school record by being hit by three pitches in game two and was also struck by a pitch in the opener. With four hit by pitch on the day and 17 in three seasons, she became NJCU's all-time leader in the category, breaking a tie she held with Jess Mucerino (2011-12, 13 hit by pitch). Garcia, who scored twice in each game, became NJCU's all-time leader in the category less than 24 hours after Taylor Born became the baseball program's new all-time hit by pitch record holder.