Sparkill, N.Y. - Georgian Court University, seeing its first softball action since March 7, 2020, salvaged an opening day non-conference split Tuesday at St. Thomas Aquinas College. The Lions, after suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 walk-off loss in the first game, bounced back in the nightcap to down the Spartans, 8-2.

With the first five frames of game one resulting in goose eggs, GCU drew first blood in the top of the sixth as the California combo of Alyssa Herrera and Adriana Mungo set the scene for the Lions' offensive outburst. Herrera led off the inning with a walk. After advancing two bags, courtesy of back-to-back sac bunts, Mungo mashed a two-run homer to right (her first collegiate blast) to give the visitors a 2-0 cushion.

The lead was sliced in half in the home portion of the stanza as Spartan pitcher, Carissa Della Vecchia (Sr.-Wappingers Falls, N.Y.), took matters into her own hands by blasting a two-out long ball to right field. Unable to add an insurance tally in the seventh, Georgian Court entered the final half-inning clinging to a 2-1 surplus.

Amanda Schweitzer (Sr.-Stony Brook, N.Y.) opened STAC's last-chance effort with a lead-off single. After inducing a pair of flyouts, GCU ace Mikayla Gilgert needed only to shut down RF Emilee Mayer (So.-Ennis, Texas) to secure the win. Unfortunately, it would be Mayer that would seize the opportunity as the Spartan slugger crunched the walk-off clout, bringing around she and pinch-runner Sinead Albelli (Fr.-Norwood, N.J.) with the winning digits.

The aforementioned Della Vecchia (2-0) earned the complete-game victory, permitting only the two runs on just one lone hit, two walks, and a hit-by-pitch over seven full. The STAC starter baffled the Lions' lineup all game, mowing down the visitors with 12 K's in the effort.

Gilgert (0-1) suffered the setback, allowing three runs on five hits (0 BB) in 6.2 innings pitched. The native of Queen Creek, Ariz. struck out five for the royal-and-blue.

In the nightcap, GCU fell behind by a 1-0 count after Della Vecchia went deep for the second time on the day. The road team responded with two runs in the second, and a trio of tallies in both the fifth and sixth stanzas ,to take game two by an 8-2 final. 

Having been one-hit in the opener,  GCU's salty sticks dished a little attitude with 14 hits in the second outing. Four Lions authored multi-hit efforts, paced by a 3-for-4 (3 RBI) performance from DP Taylor Barraza and a 3-for-4 (3B) contribution from CF Caity Hughes. Mungo closed out the afternoon going 2-for-5 in the two-hole while Kiara Meikle (2-for-3) sparked the Lions in the three-spot with a triple and a run scored.

Samantha Fohrman (1-0), back for her second season with Georgian Court, struck out nine in her first start of the year, permitting two runs on six hits and a free pass in the complete-game win. Paige Toothaker (Sr.-Ashburnham, Mass.) yielded seven runs (5 ER) on 12 hits (0 BB) in her five innings of work (4 K). She falls to 0-2 on the young year with the defeat.

GCU (1-1) will next take the diamond on Thursday, March 18 with a visit to Adelphi University for a 2:00 p.m. non-conference twin-bill.