Galloway, N.J. – Stockton University (12-10) captured a pair of close games in a home doubleheader against Muhlenberg College (8-14). The Ospreys edged the Mules 8-7 in eight innings and then blanked them 2-0 to complete the sweep.
Kayla Posten (Cherry Hill/CH West) went 2-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs in the first game.
Lilly James (Roseland/West Essex) chipped in with a double, two runs and an RBI.
Posten slugged a solo homer in the second inning for a 1-0 lead but Kristin Oberg answered with a two-run blast in the top of the third for a 2-1 edge. The Ospreys went right back in front in the bottom half. James doubled and scored on an RBI single by
Michaela Luyber (Bordentown/Bordentown). Posten drove in Luyber with an RBI single to make it 3-2.
The Ospreys broke the game open with four unearned runs on zero hits in the fifth frame for a 7-2 advantage but the Mules rallied with five runs, including three unearned, in the top of the sixth for a 7-7 tie. After a scoreless seventh stanza, the game went to an extra inning.
In the eighth, Muhlenberg had runners on second and third with one out but
Stevie Unger (Tower City, Pa./Williams Valley) worked out of the jam without allowing a run. In the bottom half, James hit a ground ball to short and tiebreaker runner
Vanessa Tancini (Levittown, Pa./Harry S. Truman) scored from third for the walkoff 8-7 win.
Unger tossed two scoreless innings out of the bullpen to earn her sixth win of the season on the mound.
Freshman
Nerina Tramp (Blackwood/Highland) starred for the Ospreys in the second game as she not only pitched a shutout in her first career start but also hit a mammoth home run. Stockton was outhit 5-3 in the contest but capitalized on its opportunities and leaned on Tramp's masterful pitching.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third when Tancini manufactured a run all on her own, starting with a two-out single. The centerfielder then stole second and took off for third when the throw bounced off her leg. The subsequent throw to third glanced off Tancini's helmet and into left field, allowing her to race home with an unearned run.
Tramp added an insurance run with two outs in the fifth inning as she slugged a majestic home run far beyond the leftfield fence to make it 2-0 with her first career homer in just her fourth plate appearance at the college level.
Tramp allowed just five hits and struck out four batters while walking none to record her first career victory and shutout in the 2-0 triumph by the Ospreys.
Stockton will jump back into NJAC play on Tuesday with a doubleheader at Rutgers-Newark beginning at 3 p.m.
