NEWARK, N.J. (April 19, 2015) – Freshman Kelly Yusko pitched a complete-game five-hitter and drove in a run to help the Rutgers-Newark softball team to a 2-0 win in the second game of a non-conference doubleheader against Brooklyn College Sunday at Alumni Field.
 
The Scarlet Raiders dropped the opener, 4-3, before bouncing back to take the nightcap.
 
Rutgers-Newark is now 12-18 overall and will return to action with a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader against New Jersey City University on Tuesday afternoon at Alumni Field. The opener is set for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
 
Game 1
Rutgers-Newark jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a two-out double off the bat of senior Toniann Donde that drove in Yusko who had previously singled.
 
Brooklyn tied the score at one with an unearned tally in the second, and after Bulldog starter Kayla Hill retired the Raiders in order in the second, the senior pitcher scored the go-ahead run in the third on a sacrifice fly.
 
A two-run homer from Samantha Rodriguez in fourth inning proved to be the game-winner, putting Brooklyn on top by a score of 4-1. The homer chased starter Jess Cannon who allowed four runs in 4.0 innings of work. Only one of the tallies was earned as the junior scattered four hits and struck out three.
 
Morgan Walizer did a nice job in relief for R-N, tossing three scoreless frames and allowing just one hit to give her side a chance at a comeback.
 
The Scarlet Raiders nearly did comeback, pushing across single runs in the sixth and seventh, but they were unable to get one more. Shortstop Vannessa Romero – who made a diving stop on a liner in the second inning to save two runs from scoring – led off the sixth with a single and advanced on a throwing error. After moving to third, freshman right fielder Elizabeth Marflak drove her in with a single to left.
 
Walizer sent the Bulldogs down quietly in the seventh, and Rutgers had three hits in the bottom half but could only score once. Sophomore Anna Carlson singled, as did second baseman Kayla Gallo. Catcher Sam Held drove in Gallo with a single of her own, but that was it and the hosts fell, 4-3.
 
Rutgers-Newark had 12 hits in the opener. Yusko was 3-for-4 with a run scored and Carlson was 2-for-4 as nine different players had at least one knock. Held, Marflak and Donde were responsible for the R-N RBI's.
 
Game 2
Yusko was the story in game two, going for her eighth win (8-7) of the season. She struck out seven and walked one, allowing just five hits. The rookie also went 2-for-2 with an RBI, driving in the first run of the game with laser to left-center in the fifth inning.
 
In that fifth inning, Rutgers-Newark scored two times. Yusko doubled home junior Kelsey Lucas who singled earlier in the inning, and Donde followed with a ground-rule-double to left to drive in the second Scarlet Raider run.
 
In the sixth, Brooklyn had two runners in scoring position, but the Rutgers-Newark freshman got a big strikeout to strand both, and in the seventh, she sent down the Bulldogs in order with a pair of strikeouts. In total, the rookie hurler retired the side in order four times.
 
Rutgers-Newark had seven hits in the second game. In addition to the two from Yusko, Lucas went 2-for-3 with a run scored.

The Scarlet Raiders went 3-1 over the weekend and have won 4-of-6 since a doubleheader split versus Hunter College.