The Rowan Profs and The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Lions needed more than just regulation again. Four times now the Profs and the Lions needed extra innings to decide games.
In Saturday’s New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship series, a best of three playoffs, the Profs lost Game 1, 3-2, in eight innings but picked up a win in Game 2, with a dramatic, 2-1, victory in ten innings, on a very windy afternoon in Glassboro.
“It’s kind of crazy at this point,” Rowan head coach Kim Wilson said. “I think we just match up really well. We both have good pitching, we both have speed… we’re kind of built the same.”
It was easy to tell that both teams were similar. Both teams dominated with their pitching and only broke through playing some small ball.
Game 1 was decided in the top of the eighth inning when Morgan Leonhauser provided the difference, launching a solo home run to left field in the eighth to give TCNJ the go-ahead lead.
But it was a pitchers duel all game before that moment. Profs’ BethAnne Doderer went eight innings with five strikeouts and kept the Lions in check for most of the game.
The Profs even struck first in this contest, as Kate Evick’s RBI single and Zara MacNair’s RBI triple gave Profs a 2-1 lead that held until the top of the seventh. Olivia Santos delivered a game-tying RBI triple in the seventh.
Rowan hung around with four hits and four walks and put in scoring position, but it wasn’t enough to secure a Game 1 victory.
Rowan was no-hit through four innings by the NJAC Pitcher of the Year Maya Knasiak. In the fifth, that changed when Carly Polsky slapped a single that brought home pinch runner Lauren Foltz for a 1-0 lead.
The fifth inning also featured one of the most confusing moments of the day. A controversial obstruction call briefly halted play and added to the tension.
Abigail Pawlowski reached second on a leadoff double, and Emma Dobkins followed with a grounder to short. Pawlowski crossed in front of the shortstop, initially drawing an interference call, but after a nearly 10 minute review it was overturned to obstruction. Dobkins returned to bat and Pawlowski to second, despite TCNJ coach Sally Miller arguing Pawlowski should be out.
“One umpire had interference, one had obstruction,” Wilson said. “I was going for the obstruction… It was a very confusing play. I need to look at the rulebook and see what actually should have been called.”
Despite the chaos, Rowan held the lead until the sixth, where Leonhauser came through again for TCNJ with an RBI single to even things at ,1-1.
The game was deadlocked but before the Profs scored again Emily McCutcheon put on a show, striking out eight and not walking a single batter, as well as pitching all ten innings.
“Just working ahead in counts and trusting my defense,” McCutcheon said. “I knew we were going to score at some point. We’ve been here before.”
McCutcheon’s confidence paid off when in Rowan’s half of the tenth Ava Fisher slapped a single into right bringing home the winning run.
“I just kept saying, see ball, hit ball over and over,” Fisher said. “Staying within myself and not swinging at pitches I didn’t want.”
McCutcheon sat down the Lions in the bottom of the tenth to secure the split and another extra-inning win for Rowan.
“I mean, we could go 40 innings and we’d still be in it,” Fisher said. “It’s about the energy in the dugout and picking each other up.”
The series now tied at a game a piece, meaning the two teams will meet in a win-or-go-home Game 3 on Sunday. Despite playing on their home field in Glassboro at 1 p.m. , Rowan will be the designated visiting team, something that Wilson said her team embraces.
“We’re the visiting team again, and we enjoy that,” Wilson said. “Just score one more than they do.”
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