Lakewood, N.J. - Georgian Court University, playing in its first postseason since 2015, made up for lost time Friday as the #3-seed Lions dismissed #6 Felician University (2-1) and #7 Holy Family University (9-7) on day one of the 2018 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Softball Championship Tournament, hosted by GCU.

The Lions and Golden Falcons put zeros on the board through the first four innings of action before Felician cracked the scoreless stalemate in the top of the fifth, courtesy of a C.J. Apacible (Fr.-Long Beach, Calif.) double that clanked off the top of the left-field fence, narrowly missing a two-run homer.

Felician starting pitcher, Ashley Owens (Sr.-Lockport, N.Y.) kept GCU hitless for four-and-a-third before Elisa Lopez broke up the no-no  with a liner off the glove of a high-reaching Nicole Spiegelberg (So.-Blauvelt, N.Y.). Cassie Varvaro pinch ran for Lopez and then promptly advanced to second on a Kendalia Turner bunt single to third base. The stage was now set for Malia Black as the freshman laced a single to left-center, plating Varvaro and tying the contest at 1-1.

Caitlin Hughes, the 2018 CACC Rookie of the Year, immediately ripped a single to right, bringing around Turner with the eventual game-winning RBI.

Jessica O'Neil (17-9) took it from there for Georgian Court as the All-CACC Second Team hurler held the Felician offense at bay the rest of the way to earn the Lions their first postseason "W" since May 10, 2014 when Georgian Court took down Queens College, 5-4, in the NCAA Division II East 2 Region tournament. The GCU ace scattered nine hits and a walk (1 ER) in the complete-game showing (1 K).

Owens suffered the defeat as the senior permitted two runs (2 ER) on five hits and two free passes (4 K) over six innings.

In their second outing of the day, the Lions took on a hungry Holy Family squad that upset #2 Wilmington University in its first game of the tournament. 

Georgian Court immediately struck in the home half of the first when Samantha Salomon sliced a one-out triple to right field before strutting home on a Malaya Black sacrifice fly two batters later. The Lions unloaded for three more tallies, courtesy of five hits and a Tigers miscue, to go ahead 4-0 after three full.

Both foes brought in a lone run in the fourth to make the score 5-1 GCU after four before Holy Family made its presence known with a three-spot in the top of the fifth, highlighted by a two-run single from Koreen Orozco (Sr.-Whittier, Calif.).

With just a one-run surplus, Georgian Court unleashed four more runs on five knocks, ending the sixth inning with a 9-4 advantage. Holy Family would not go away quietly when Taylor Favinger (Sr.-Deptford, N.J.) led off the seventh with a single, followed by a two-run shot from Orozco, to make it 9-6 Lions. 

GCU's defense earned a gold star to seal the win as a sweet 6-3 double play accounted for the first two outs, followed by a 7-2-4 putout two batters later, which ended the game after Alyssa Cudeyro (Sr.-Sicklerville, N.J.) attempted to stretch her RBI single into an extra base.

Marissa Trezza (4-3) went 4+ innings to earn the win for the Lions (5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB) while Tigers' starter, Hannah Miravich (Jr.-Reading, Pa.) suffered the loss (2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB,1 K). O'Neil was credited with her CACC-leading fourth save with three innings out of the Georgian Court bullpen (7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 K).

Six players cracked two or more hits in the GCU lineup, including: Mikaela Power (3-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI), Salomon (2-for-4, 2 R), Samantha Reilly (2-for-2, 2 BB, R), Trezza (2-for-3, R, RBI), Lopez (2-for-2, 2B, RBI) and Malia Black (2-for-3, 2 R).

Georgian Court (30-21) now moves on to Friday when the Lions take on top-seed Caldwell University at 1:00 p.m. The Cougars shut out #8 Jefferson, 5-0, and then outlasted #5 Post University, 6-5, in eight innings to advance to the second day.