JERSEY CITY, N.J — The New Jersey City University softball team hosted Baruch College Saturday afternoon, March 18, at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex for the squad's home-opener. The Gothic Knights swept the Bearcats via a 5-4 comeback in eight innings in game one, along with a 3-1 victory in the second game.
Game 1:
Jersey City (4-4) opened up the game with the bats being loud in the first inning, as junior Emily Tunney (Mays Landing, N.J./Oak Crest) started things off with a single. Tunney, then on second, got moved to third via a sacrifice bunt from junior Mariah Villanueva (Jersey City, N.J./McNair Academic). In the next at-bat, the loudest hit of the day occurred, as sophomore Mya Villanueva (Jersey City, N.J./McNair Academic) drilled her first-career home run to deep left, giving the Gothic Knights an early 2-0 lead.
Baruch (2-2) was held silent early, as junior pitcher and co-captain Sidnie Dabbadie (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) also got off to a strong start, retiring her first six of nine batters faced, including tallying four strikeouts over the stretch. Dabbadie, though, eventually faced adversity in the third as she allowed three soft singles to open up the inning, allowing Baruch to tie the score at 2-2. Despite runs crossing the plate, she kept her composure as she escaped further trouble by retiring the next three hitters, including stranding a runner on third after recording two more strikeouts to end the inning.
The Bearcats took the lead in the fourth, capitalizing on a NJCU error, and expanded the lead with another run in the fifth to make it 4-2. Despite NJCU being down, Dabbadie continued to pitch well, and kept the Bearcats at bay. NJCU continued to trail into the bottom of the seventh, however sophomore Abby Castro (Clifton, N.J./Passaic County Tech) continued her hot start to the season as she led off the inning with a single. Then, three batters later, with Jersey City down to its final strike, freshman Natalie Rosales (Union City, N.J./Jose Marti STEM Academy) produced the biggest hit of her young Gothic Knights career as both her and Castro capitalized on two fielding errors on the play, allowing both to score in dramatic fashion. NJCU tied it up 4-4 at the end of the seventh, forcing extras.
Dabbadie in the eighth found herself in a jam, as she walked the leadoff hitter, and then found the bases loaded on a fielder's choice bunt with no outs, due to the extra inning rules with a runner starting on second. However, the righthander again stepped up to the occasion, as she retired the next three hitters on soft ground balls to get out of the bases loaded jam. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Tunney sacrifice bunted to move sophomore Victoria Devoto (Ridgefield, N.J./Immaculate Conception) to third. This put the older of the two Villanueva sisters in prime position as on a 1-0 count; she drilled a line drive into left field scoring Devoto allowing the squad to walk off victorious 5-4 in extras.
Game 1 Highlights:
- With her outstanding 8.0 innings of work in the circle, Dabbadie now has three wins on the season, putting her two shy of her win total from last season of five.
- Additionally, Dabbadie tallied 11 strikeouts, cracking double digits for the first time this season. Those 11 match the second-most in a single outing in her career, as she tallied a career-high 12 against Baruch last season, along with 11 against Martin Luther College last spring.
- With Mya Villanueva's (Jersey City, N.J./McNair Academic) homerun in the bottom of the first, the Gothic Knights now have two home runs on the season as a squad, matching last season's total just eight games in.
Game 2:
The Green and Gold carried its pitching momentum into game two, as this time junior and co-captain Sam Miller (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) took her turn in the circle. Miller was efficient especially in the first three innings as she retired the first nine of 10 batters she faced, while not allowing a single hit. Freshman Yavely Marrero (Perth Amboy, N.J./Perth Amboy) played right field in the second game and woke up NJCU's bats, as she led off the inning with a single and then stole second to put herself into scoring position. This eventually setup game-one hero Mariah Villanueva (Jersey City, N.J./McNair Academic), who again produced a big RBI-single up the middle to give NJCU a 1-0 lead.
The Bearcats, though, answered back in the top of the fourth as they capitalized off of a fielding error after securing their first hit the at-bat prior, making the score 1-1. NJCU though in the bottom half of the fourth did not go quiet as they answered back immediately with Dabbadie and Miller singling back-to-back. NJCU then loaded the bases up off a fielding error, and then again answered back, as Marrero brought home junior Nicole Weinbel (Clifton, N.J./Clifton), who pinch ran for Dabbadie, on a loud infield single putting NJCU up 2-1.
The Gothic Knights did not score the rest of the inning, but luckily that run became the deciding factor as Miller continued to pitch lights out after retiring the final nine of 12 batters she faced. NJCU added one more run in the bottom of the sixth as Devoto brought home Castro to extend the lead to 3-1. Miller then got into a jam after retiring the first two hitters in the seventh, allowing back-to-back two out singles, but she'd close the game pitching out of it as she created a routine ground ball to third to end the game. NJCU won game two, completing the sweep of Baruch by a final score of 3-1.
Game 2 Highlights:
- Mariah Villanueva (Jersey City, N.J./McNair Academic) carried her momentum into game two, producing a solid 2-for-3 game along with a RBI, continuing her hot start, as she is now 5-for-16 to open up the season.
- Miller found herself in a pitching duel, and stepped up to the occasion, pitching arguably the strongest outing of her career. Miller previously had a five inning shutout against Brooklyn College on March 23, 2022, and no earned runs in a full 7.0 innings against the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford last season on March 11, 2023, in defeat, however, had never gone a full seven innings without allowing an earned run in a winning effort until this afternoon.
- Marrero's two hit day resulted in the first multi-hit game of her young career.
- Lastly, Castro's two hit day marks her fifth multi-hit game of the season as her 13-for-25 start already sees her tally a career high in hits in just eight games.
Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return home Tuesday, March 21, as they host Brooklyn for a doubleheader at the Gerrity. First pitch in game one is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. NJCU looks to expand its winning streak over the Bulldogs to seven as the Green and Gold are 5-0 all time against Brooklyn.
