EWING, N.J. – The Drew University softball team showed little rust following a 10-day break from competition, earning a non-conference split at The College of New Jersey on Tuesday.
 
Playing for the first time since the final day of its spring break trip on March 10, the Rangers (10-2) rallied for a 2-1 victory in the opener to run its winning streak to nine games – their longest since a school-record 12-gamer in 2003 – before falling 3-0 in the nightcap.
 
The Lions (7-5) pushed across a run on a pair of hits in the third inning of the opener, but that's all they would manage versus senior Bailey Comeau, who fired a six-hit complete game and struck out two. TCNJ had a batter reach base in every inning but left 11 runners on base.
 
Comeau (4-0) was the beneficiary of a double play in the fourth, and she worked out of trouble in the seventh. The Lions had the tying run in scoring position with one out following a single and a passed ball, but Comeau coaxed a pair of fly-ball outs to end the game.
 
The Rangers scored both of their runs in the fifth inning. Senior Madi Precht worked a two-out walk before freshman Haley Meierhofer drilled a double down the leftfield line. Senior Molly O'Brien then tied the game with an infield single and Meirhofer scored the go-ahead run when she and O'Brien executed a double steal.
 
In the second game, sophomore Teagan Bradley and TCNJ's Elizabeth Gosse were locked up in a pitcher's duel early on. The two hurlers allowed just two hits apiece while tossing three straight scoreless innings to start the game.
 
The Lions would receive all the offense they would need in the fourth on a double, a bunt single, and sacrifice fly. They would tack on two more runs on three hits in the fifth.
 
The Rangers put up their biggest threat in the sixth, when they had runners on the corners with one out following singles from Precht and O'Brien. But TCNJ escaped with an inning-ending 1-3-2 double play.
 
Bradley (2-2) threw all six innings for the Rangers, allowing seven hits and two walks while striking out three. Precht went 2-for-3 at the plate.
 
Gosse (4-1) finished with a four-hit shutout for the Lions.
 
The Rangers jump right back into action on Wednesday, when they host Montclair State University at 3 p.m. in their home opener.\