Newport News, Va. – Stockton University (3-7) finished its weekend in Virginia with a pair of setbacks to top-10 ranked teams. The Ospreys were downed 10-1 in five innings by No. 2 Christopher Newport (10-3) and then edged 6-5 in eight innings by No. 10 Randolph-Macon (8-3).
Kayla Posten (Cherry Hill/CH West) went 1-2 with the lone RBI versus Christopher Newport.
Charli Czaczkowski (Jackson/Jackson Memorial) also was 1-2 in the game.
Freshman
Taylor Palmieri (Oakland/Indian Hills) stroked her first career hit in her first college at-bat. Also in her college debut, freshman
Caitlin Cetrulo (Caldwell/James Caldwell) walked and scored in the fifth inning to avert the shutout.
Christopher Newport notched two runs in the bottom of the first and put the game away with eight runs in the third inning. Stockton got on the board in the top of the fifth. Cetrulo walked in a pinch-hitting role and scored on a two-out single by Posten for the 10-1 final in five innings.
Jenna Patterson (Mullica Hill/Clearview) went 2-4 with two doubles and an RBI while
Megan Sears (Oakland/Indian Hills) hit a solo home run and walked against Randolph-Macon.
Lilly James (Roseland/West Essex) was 1-4 with a double, run and an RBI.
Stockton jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Posten scored on a wild pitch in the first inning and delivered James with an RBI single after James smacked an RBI double in the second frame. Randolph-Macon tied the game with three runs in the fourth inning and went ahead 5-3 with two more in the fifth.
Sears slugged a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth to get Stockton within 5-4. Down to their final out in the seventh stanza, Patterson rapped an RBI double to send home the game-tying run at 5-5.
With the international tiebreaker in effect, Randolph-Macon scored the eventual winning run in the top of the eighth and held the Ospreys scoreless in the bottom half for the 6-5 final.
Despite suffering the loss,
Nerina Tramp (Blackwood/Highland) produced another strong outing. Tramp allowed just one earned run on eight hits with seven strikeouts and just one walk.
Stockton returns home to host Immaculata University in a doubleheader on Monday at 2:30 p.m.
