NAPLES, Fla. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | The New Jersey City University softball team (1-5) lost both ends of their day three doubleheader on March 11 at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic. In the first game, Western Connecticut State University (4-1) used a seven-run sixth inning to pull away in a 12-3 win. In the second game, Lesley University (3-3) put up eight runs in the fifth to win 13-3.
 
Game 1: Western Connecticut 12, NJCU 3
In game one of the day, the Knights won the toss and chose the home side of things for the fifth consecutive time to start the season. The Colonials, however, used their first-ups to take a quick lead, as they got a leadoff single, then a double, and finally a home run from Annie Rosa (Washington, Conn.) out of the cleanup spot to take a quick 3-0 lead.
 
WestConn added to that lead in the third inning, with Rosa once again at the center of things, with an RBI double just one batter after a Brittany Stancavage (Bristol, Conn) RBI single, and NJCU found themselves down 5-0.
 
The Knights began to chip away at the Colonial lead in the third, however, as they took advantage of a couple of WestConn errors to score their first run of the game and cut the lead to 5-1.
 
After both teams failed to score in the fourth, the Knights inched closer in the fifth after a 1-2-3 frame in the top half from senior pitcher Christina Mezey (Jersey City, NJ/Saint Dominic Academy). After basketball star turned softball player Marajiah Bacon (Neptune, NJ/Neptune) nearly beat out an infield single and got the bench fired up, Arianna Scrimo (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) worked a seven-pitch walk. Then, four-year senior Hannah Gavin (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown) followed that up with a blast to center field that cleared the fence, bringing the Knights to within two and flipping the momentum and noise level all to their side. It was her fifth career homer. NJCU got two more runners on board, but couldn't quite squeeze across one more run.
 
The momentum switched quickly, though, as the first seven hitters reached for WestConn in the sixth, with a Charline Plasczynski (Bristol, CT) three-run homer doing the most damage as the Colonials prevailed in six innings.
 
Freshman righty Alyssa Lionetti (Brookfield, Conn.) won for West Conn (1-0), throwing 6.0 innings with five strikeouts and two walks, giving up four hits. Rosa was 4-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs. Three RBIs from Charline Plasczynski and two RBIs each by Stancavage and sophomore Reilly McMahon (South Windsor, Conn.) accounted for the production.
 
Game 2: Lesley 13, NJCU 3
It was really two innings—the first and the last—that doomed the Knights against the Lynx. NJCU once again won the toss, but they also once again found themselves in a quick hole, as a key error from NJCU and back-to-back homers from sophomore designated hitter Jordan Day (Seminole, Fla.) and senior shortstop  Ashleigh Acker (Apopka, Fla.) staked the Lynx to an early 5-0 lead. Day's homer was a three-run shot to left.
 
The Knights once again proved resilient, though, this time with an immediate response in the bottom half of the first. Walks to freshmen Maria Montes (Jersey City, NJ/Ferris) and Emma Herrick (Sayreville, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial) had the Lesley pitcher flustered, freshman righty Jen Thorburn (Groton, Mass.), and the Knights pounced with RBI singles from Mezey and sophomore third baseman Dulce Almonte (Jersey City, NJ/Snyder via County Prep).
 
NJCU sophomore pitcher Amber Hunter (Piscataway, NJ/Arts (Newark)) settled down after the first, and the Knights clawed another run back in the second, as Scrimo drove an RBI double into the left center gap scoring Gavin and nearly scoring Montes, who ended up scurrying back safely to third.
 
The teams traded zeros in the third and fourth innings, but the Lynx powerful bats woke back up in the fifth, with an eight-run inning highlighted by a second home run of the game for Day providing the final blow in a 13-3 win for Lesley, which won in five innings.
 
Day finished her day with five RBIs, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. She was one of four players with multiple hits as Lesley posted 1 as a team.
 
Senior first baseman Jordan Raab (Rochester, N.H.) was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and Acker scored twice (2-for-4, 1 RBI). Thorburn (2-1) won, allowing three runs and five hits in 5.0 innings, with four K's (four walks).
 
OF NOTE:

• Series vs. Western Connecticut: First meeting.
• Series vs. Lesley. First meeting since March 16, 2001 (NJCU won, 17-1). All-time series even, 1-1.
• Freshman Maia Tejada, collected the first hit of her collegiate softball career.
• Freshman Maria Montes (Jersey City, NJ/Ferris) scored the first run of her NJCU career.
• The home run for Hannah Gavin (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown) was the fifth of her NJCU career. She has 88 career hits.

 
UP NEXT:
The Gothic Knights have their Florida trip day off on Tuesday before returning to the field Wednesday, March 13 bright and early to face off with Alfred State (1-5) at 9:00 a.m. and playing a rematch against Kenyon College (10-2) at 11:00 a.m.
 
GOTHIC KNIGHTS on SOCIAL MEDIA:
For the latest on NJCU softball and #NJCUSB, follow the Gothic Knights on social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and SnapChat. Preferred hashtag is #GothicFamily and #GothicGameDay. Follow live stats: https://njcugothicknights.com/sidearmstats/softball/summary