OSPREYS FALL TWICE BY ONE RUN, 4-3 & 2-1

Grace Long

Game 1 / Game 2

Richard Stockton (19-9, 2-8 NJAC) battled Ramapo (20-5, 6-4) in a pair of one-run games, including one that went to extra innings, but the Ospreys came up short in both by scores of 4-3 (8 innings) and 2-1.

Michelle Pietrocola (North Brunswick/North Brunswick) struck out a career-high 16 batters and allowed just four hits in the first game.

Stockton managed nine safeties, led by Nicole Scanlon (Colonia/Colonia) who went 2-4 with a double and Grace Long (Egg Harbor Twp./EHT) who was 2-4 with a run scored.

Ramapo jumped out to a 2-0 lead on back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first. Stockton got one run back in the top of the third as Ally Roma (West Long Branch/Shore Regional) doubled and scored on an RBI single by Katelyn Derewecki (Hillsborough/ Hillsborough).

Ramapo’s Danielle Rothenberger blasted her second solo homer of the game in the bottom of the third and the Ospreys faced a 3-1 deficit. Stockton forced extra innings with two runs in the sixth frame. Long led off with a single and later scored on a fielder’s choice. Roma then lofted a sacrifice fly to bring home the tying run.

After Stockton went scoreless and stranded a runner at third base in the top of the eighth, Ramapo scored the winning run in the bottom half on a walk-off single by Tiffany Fischer for the 4-3 final.

Stockton managed just two hits, both in the seventh inning, and fell 2-1 in the nightcap. Long went 1-3 with a double while Heather Corica (Iselin/JFK) contributed a pinch-hit RBI single.

Ramapo again took the early lead with two runs on two hits in the bottom of the first for a 2-0 score. Stockton went without a hit for 6.1 innings before Long broke up Lauren Shaw’s bid for a no-hitter with a double. Corica delivered an RBI single with two outs and advanced to second on the throw but was stranded as the game ended on a strikeout.