For the second straight year and 13th time overall, No. 2 Rowan softball are New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Champions. Rowan climbed themselves out of the losers bracket after defeating the Ramapo Roadrunners 5-2 and 9-2, respectively, to capture the back-to-back conference titles for the first time since the 2001-02 seasons.

Game 2 of the championship series also saw two Profs add their names to the Rowan record books. A double by Payton MacNair in the second marked her 276th career hit, surpassing Joy Pittner’s (1993-96) previous record of 275. Rylee Lutz also got her 76th career pitching victory to become the program’s all-time wins leader. She surpassed Barbara Sbarra’s (1987-90) previous mark of 75.

Rowan previously played Ramapo in the second round of the NJAC Tournament. In that game, the Roadrunners pulled off the upset by winning 2-0 and knocking Rowan into the losers bracket. This meant if these two faced off in the NJAC Championship, the Profs would have to win twice in order to be the repeat winners of the NJAC.

In game 1, Head Coach Kim Wilson decided to have Junior Emily McCutcheon pitch over Senior Rylee Lutz, who was coming off one of her worst performances of the season in the second round matchup against Ramapo. That choice, Wilson says, wasn’t a coincidence.

“We were prepared to throw everyone,” Wilson said.

The Profs fell to an early 1-0 deficit by the bat of star shortstop for Ramapo Katie Rygiel, who led off the game with a single. Second baseman Avery Kontoura would later give Ramapo the lead after scoring Rygiel with a single of her own. 

Rowan knew that they would need an early response to break out of their previous slump against Ramapo, and they found that after scoring two runs on three hits from both Abigail Pawlowski and Breanna Bryant. Both drove in a run and the gave the Profs a 2-1 lead at the end of the first inning.

Emily McCutcheon would toss two scoreless innings to keep the lead for the Profs as they headed to the Bottom of the third inning.

In that inning, Rowan added another two runs by back-to-back RBI doubles from Aly Reim and Kate Evick to give the Profs a 4-1 lead. Ramapo would answer in the top of the fourth by scoring their second and final run of the game, as catcher Hannah Hensler’s RBI Double made the game 4-2. Rowan would add insurance by scoring another run in the bottom of the fourth making it 5-2 Rowan with an RBI Double by McKenzie Melvin.

McCutcheon would get the job done in Game 1 as the Profs held off the Roadrunners and forced a second game in the NJAC Championship Series. In Game 2, Rowan went back to Lutz to pitch this game as she looked for redemption from her last start against this very team.

The Profs had an early 1-0 lead after a bunt from MacNair scored Liz McCaffrey from third base. 

Ramapo knew they would need to respond and did just that as they took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Rygiel, who has been a thorn in the Profs side her whole career, launched a double to right center field to score two runs and give Ramapo their first lead of the game.

Ramapo has always given the Profs a battle this whole season. When Rowan trailed headed into the bottom of the third inning, they had to show they had more fight left in them. And that’s what they did, as they went on to score three runs, including a two run single by Bryant, to put Rowan up 4-2.

Rowan packed on five more runs on 5 hits in the top of the seventh, where MacNair had an RBI double and then Pawlowski added another with a single. Reim would then put the Finishing touches after hitting a two run single to give Rowan a 9-2 lead.

Lutz put her previous outing behind herself and put all of her attention that she had onto the game in front of her. This, she says, gave her the uppermost confidence to pitch on one of the biggest stages.

“I knew they had good hitters so I was trying to get as much spin on my ball as possible,” Lutz said.

Melvin was proud to be given the opportunity to face Ramapo yet again, but wasn’t dwelling too much on the past.

“We’re only focused on one game at a time,” Melvin said.

With Rowan winning Another NJAC Championship the Profs have granted themselves an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament, where they will host the regionals on their home field in Glassboro.

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