JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University rallied from behind three times, including two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, notching its first extra-innings win of the season, 7-6, over Purchase College in the first game of a non-conference softball doubleheader on April 20 at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex. NJCU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of game two, sweeping the twinbill with a 6-2 decision in the nightcap.
 
NJCU snapped a five-game skid, improving to 10-16. Purchase dropped to 6-12 overall but 0-6 in games outside the Skyline Conference.
 
Game 1: New Jersey City 7, Purchase 6 (8 innings)
After losing twice in eight innings this season by similar 3-2 scores, the Gothic Knights were in danger of falling again after Purchase scored in the top of the eighth under international tiebreaker rules.
 
Down 6-5, freshman shortstop Naomi Olacio (Bayonne, NJ/Hoboken) (Bayonne, N.J./Hoboken) started the inning on second base and junior left fielder Julie Squeo (Carlstadt, NJ/Becton Regional) (Carlstadt, N.J./Becton Regional) dropped down a sacrifice attempt but eluded the tag for an infield single. With runners on the corners, sophomore right-handed pitcher Christina Mezey (Jersey City, NJ/Saint Dominic Academy) (Jersey City, N.J./Saint Dominic Academy) helped her own cause with a game-tying single to center and the bases were loaded after the Panthers could not retire Squeo at third on a fielder's choice. Freshman right fielder Keyonne Ingram (Trenton, NJ/Trenton Central) (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Central)'s ground ball to shortstop was booted and Squeo, who broke on contact and would have scored anyway, was able to cross the plate with the winning run without a throw.
 
Squeo and freshman second baseman Caralynne Rivera (Brick, NJ/Kearny) (Brick, N.J./Kearny) were each 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored while Ingram had her first two collegiate RBIs and first hit. Sophomore catcher/third baseman Hannah Gavin (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown) (Bordentown, N.J./Bordentown) scored twice.
 
Mezey was 2-for-4 with a run and RBI and earned the win in the circle where she allowed four earned runs and nine hits in 8.0 innings, striking out two (three walks). After Purchase grabbed a 5-3 lead in the top of the third, she shutout the Panthers the next four innings to force extra frames.
 
Freshman first baseman Rachel Stockinger (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) led Purchase with three RBIs in a 2-for-3 effort. Senior shortstop Mary Adams (Milton, Pa.) and senior right-handed pitcher Nicole Fortuna (New Rochelle, N.Y.) each had two hits. Sophomore left fielder Lisa Kentris (Latham, N.Y.) and sophomore center fielder Kelly Hayes (Staten Island, N.Y.) scored twice; Hayes also had a pair of walks. Fortuna was also the losing pitcher (5-3) and while she gave up 11 hits, only one of the seven runs were earned.
 
PC led 3-0 after scoring three in the top of the first inning, including a two-run double to center by Stockinger. NJCU roared back in the bottom of the first to tie it, 3-3. After back-to-back Purchase errors with one out, Rivera had an RBI single and Squeo slipped a two-run single through the left side to tie it.
 
PC got two runs back in the third with just one hit. Purchase used very aggressive base running to put runners in scoring position as two batters walked and never kept going, stealing second each time without ever stopping at first. A sacrifice fly by Stockinger on a foul ball and a bunt single by Fortuna made it 5-3.
 
NJCU got one run in the fourth and another in the fifth to tie it. After a one-out double by Mezey, Ingram slapped her first career hit up the middle to drive in her pitcher. In the fifth, Gavin hit a long fly ball off the left field fence before a strong throw by Kentris forced a run down play between first and second but Gavin eluded a bad relay throw to take the extra base. A sacrifice fly by Rivera eventually tied it at 5-5.
 
When Hayes doubled to open the eighth inning in a 5-5 game to score Kentris in the tiebreaker format, back-to-back singles loaded the bases with no outs. But Mezey got out of trouble, coaxing a 1-2-3 double play and a subsequent ground ball back to the circle.
 
Game 2: New Jersey City 6, Purchase 2
Game two was far less dramatic as the Gothic Knights scored three in the first and three more runs in the fourth to complete the sweep. Mezey and senior first baseman/right-handed pitcher Brittany Paulikas (Fords, NJ/JFK-Iselin) (Ford, N.J./John F. Kennedy Memorial) teamed to limit Purchase to five hits.
 
Paulikas and Olacio were each 1-for-3 with two RBIs and freshman catcher Arianna Scrimo (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) (Kearny, N.J./Kearny), who came on in a reserve role after an NJCU runner was struck by a foul ball at third, contributed two runs in a 2-for-3 performance.
 
Mezey won both ends of the doubleheader to improve to 7-14. In game two, she went 4.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits with two strikeouts and no walks. Paulikas notched her first career save, tossing the final 3.0 innings. She allowed a run and just two hits with a strikeout and walk.
 
Kentris batted 2-for-3 with a run scored and Stockinger had both RBIs to finish the day with five runs batted in. Stockinger was the losing pitcher (1-9), allowing all six runs and eight hits.
 
NJCU loaded the bases in the first inning as freshman center fielder Alanis Concepcion (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) (Nutley, N.J./Nutley) singled and Paulikas and Rivera walked in succession. Olacio, after a line drive foul ball forced Concepcion out of the game, persevered with a two-run single to right center and Squeo singled to right for a 3-0 lead.
 
Leading 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth, NJCU tacked on three more runs. After two singles sandwiched around an error loaded the bases, Paulikas deposited a two-run single to right center to make it 5-1 and Rivera forced in a sixth run on a ground ball.

 
QUOTABLE KNIGHTS:
Post-game interview on Facebook Live with Christina Mezey (Jersey City, NJ/Saint Dominic Academy) and Brittany Paulikas (Fords, NJ/JFK-Iselin): https://www.facebook.com/NJCUGothicKnights/videos/10154804693404915/
 
OF NOTE:

• Series: First meetings with Purchase. NJCU leads series, 2-0.
• NJCU is 1-2 in extra-inning games this season.
• NJCU won an extra-innings game for the first time since an 8-7 win over Yeshiva in eight innings on April 30, 2015.
• Brittany Paulikas (Fords, NJ/JFK-Iselin) played in her 100th and 101st career games for NJCU. She has 91 career hits—nine shy of becoming the 14th member of the softball 100-hit club and the first to reach the milestone in only three seasons.

 
WHAT'S NEXT?
NJCU will play the first of four doubleheaders in four days when it visits Rutgers-Newark on Saturday, April 22 at 1 p.m. in a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader in Newark, N.J., before returning home for games on April 23 (Hunter, 12 p.m.), April 24 (Staten Island, 3 p.m.) and April 25 (TCNJ, 3 p.m.).
 
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