HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College softball team earned a split with the 8th-ranked Lions from The College of New Jersey Thursday afternoon in non-conference action getting a 2-1 Game 1 victory behind the pitching and hitting of Cassandra Searls before falling to the Lions, 5-0, in the nightcap at Class of '95 Field.
TCNJ (18-4) scored the first run of the game in the opener as lead-off batter Crystal Lee drew a walk off Searls, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt then scored on an infield ground out to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Searls stood tall in the pitcher's circle for Haverford (12-10) the rest of the way getting out of jams in the second, fifth and seventh innings. The Lions had the bases loaded in both the second and seventh but both times the Fords and Searls were able to extinguish the threats.
Meanwhile, the home team was trying to solve TCNJ starter Ashley Minervini.
Haverford's best opportunity to score in the first six innings came in the fourth when Alison Crawford led off with a single but two batters later was called out at the plate trying to score from second on a single by Laina Gagliardi.
Once the Fords held the deficit to just 1-0 after getting out of that seventh inning jam, they got one last crack at Minervini and made the most of it.
A leadoff single eventually turned into the second out of the inning on a fielder's choice that allowed Erin Delaney to reach first safely and moved up Gabrielle Sapienza, who earned a walk ahead of Delaney, to second.
Down to the final out, Searls stepped into the box and got hold of a Minervini offering stroking a walk-off double into the gap in right-center field that brought Sapienza and Delaney home for the win.
Searls (6-2) earned the complete-game victory in the circle for the Fords allowing the one run on four hits and four walks while fanning nine. Minervini (8-3) took the loss surrendering two runs on five hits and two walks.
The nightcap started the same way as the opener, with New Jersey putting a run up on the score board in the top of the first.
The Lions kept chipping away at Haverford starter Maggie Cronin adding two more in the third, with only one ball leaving the infield on a sac fly to center, and then another run in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead into the final inning.
Lauren Gill relieved Cronin to start the seventh and the Lions treated her arrival the same as in Cronin's initial inning by scoring one run that made the final margin five runs in the shutout.
The Fords produced chances off TCNJ starter Lauren Fitzsimmons leaving runners in scoring position in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
In the fourth, Sapienza was left stranded at third after getting on-base with a single to left, and then in the following inning Candice Smith led-off with a single to left field and eventually found herself at third but Fitzsimmons shut the door there, too.
Cronin (2-1) suffered her first defeat of the season for Haverford after giving up four runs on five hits and a walk in six innings of work. Fitzsimmons (10-0) went the distance surrendering seven hits and two walks but allowing no runs to pick up the win and remain unbeaten on the year.
For the day Crawford finished with three hits and two walks, and Gagliardi and Sapienza each had one hit apiece in both games. Hilary Bragg got the start in right field for the Fords in Game 2 and registered her first hit of the year with a single through the left side in her first at bat of the game.
The Fords return to Centennial Conference action with their next outing as they'll travel to Allentown, Pa., to take on Muhlenberg College for a doubleheader Saturday afternoon.