UNION, N.J. (4/5/14) – Junior righties Courtney Yard and Rebecca Rotola combined to allow two earned runs in 14 innings as the Kean University softball team swept away The College of New Jersey 5-2 and 5-1 on Saturday. Sandra Binkiewicz had five hits and four RBIs on the day for the Cougars.
In game one, Megan Cegielski led off the bottom of the first with a walk. Emily Sabo sacrificed her to second and Binkiewicz (pictured left) singled through the left side to move her to third. Yard launched a sac fly to left to finish the manufacturing of the first run of the game for Kean.
Yard had to make some tough pitches to escape the first two innings scoreless, but settled down to retire seven in a row with four consecutive strikeouts mixed in.
That streak was stopped by Kristen Lake, whose two-out solo homer to right field tied the game at one-all in the fifth.
In the home half of the frame, Sabo reached on a two-base error to begin a rally for Kean. Binkiewicz brought her home with a double to the rightfield gap and Kelly Moorehead chased Binkiewicz home with an RBI single as Kean took the lead right back.
The Cougars scored two more insurance runs in the sixth with singles by Sabo and Binkiewicz and the help of two Lion errors in the frame. Those extra runs came in handy when TCNJ rallied to score one and put the tying run on deck in the seventh, but Yard shut the door for her ninth victory of the season. She pitched all seven innings and allowed just one earned run while striking out 10.
Kean jumped out to a three-run lead in the first inning of game two. Cegielski singled, Binkiewicz walked and Yard hit a stinging double to the rightfield gap that scored both runners. Yard came home on Moorehead's opposite-field single that capped the Cougar scoring.
Rotola got off to a good start; she allowed just one hit in the first four innings with a pair of K's in that time.
The Cougars added two more in the fourth inning. Kate Smith began it with a single to right. Jill Martin was hit by a pitch for the second time on the afternoon and Cegielski singled to load the bases. Binkiewicz delivered yet again with a 2-RBI single up the middle to make the score 5-0.
Rotola got into her only jam during the final inning, where she allowed a run on three hits. But the junior stranded runners on the corners and struck out Lake for the final out of the game. Rotola went the distance for her ninth win of the season, striking out three with no walks allowed.
Kean raised its record to 18-4 and 5-1 in the NJAC, while the Lions fell to 6-16 and 0-6 in the league.
The Cougars will be right back in action on Sunday as they travel to DRU Florham for a non-conference matchup at noon.
