NEWARK, N.J. (March 24, 2016) - Senior
Kelsey Lucas hit two home runs, but the Rutgers University-Newark softball team saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end, falling to visiting New York University in both ends of a doubleheader Thursday afternoon.
The Violets took the opener, 5-3, and won the nightcap, 6-3.
Rutgers-Newark falls to 8-8 on the season and NYU improves to 9-9. The Scarlet Raiders will look to get back into the win column on March 31 when they visit Hunter College for a doubleheader.
Rutgers-Newark totaled 18 hits in the two games and were led by five hits from sophomore
Kayla Gallo.
NYU 5, Rutgers-Newark 3 - Game 1The starting pitchers dictated the action in the first three innings and NYU's Karissa Zubulake and R-N's
Kelly Yusko put up six-straight zeros to start the contest.
The Violets broke through with four runs in the fourth inning, the big blow coming via a three-run triple from freshman designated player Cassi Parulis.
Rutgers-Newark cut into the lead with single tallies in the fifth and sixth to get within two runs at 4-2. Lucas hit a towering two-out home run over the left field fence in the fifth for the first Raider run, and freshman designated player
Liesel Johnson scored after leading off the sixth with a double. Johnson came around to score on a two-out single down from Gallo, and after loading the bases with two out, sophomore
Elizabeth Marflak hit into tough luck by lining out to first base to end the frame.
NYU added a run on three hits in the seventh to take a three-run margin with three outs left, and eventually closed out the 5-3 win. In the home seventh, Lucas found her way on thanks to a Violet error, and she came in to score on a bullet of a ground-rule-double from Johnson, but that would be all as Zubulake was able to record the final two outs for the complete-game win.
Yusko (7-4) went the first four innings for the Scarlet Raiders, allowing four runs on eight hits and striking out two. The Scarlet Raiders totaled nine hits in the game, as Johnson, Robertson and Gallo all had two. Johnson went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, and Robertson was 2-for-2. Gallo finished 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Lucas was 1-for-4 (HR) with an RBI and two runs scored.
Sophomore
Morgan Walizer pitched the final three innings of game one for the Scarlet Raiders, allowing a run on three hits and striking out one.
The NYU offense had 11 total hits in the opener, with junior Rachel Fulton, freshman Dakota Damiani and freshman Jacqueline Finn all notching two apiece.
NYU 6, Rutgers-Newark 3 - Game 2NYU jumped on top 4-0 with four runs on four hits in the second inning, getting a two-run homer from starting pitcher Diana King.
Lucas' second homer of the doubleheader put Rutgers on the board in the third inning as the senior laced another towering shot over the center field fence to make it 4-1. The Scarlet Raiders had runners on first and third with one out in the fourth thanks to a leadoff double from Gallo and one-out single, but King was able to wiggle out of trouble.
A two-run King triple with two down in the top of the sixth made it 6-1 in favor of the guests, but the Scarlet Raiders fought within striking distance in the bottom half, scoring twice. Following a groundout, Gallo ripped another double to right-center, and after a walk to Walizer both runners advanced on a wild pitch. A single from sophomore
Elizabeth Marflak brought home Gallo with the first marker of the inning, and a Lucas sacrifice fly plated Walizer.
Walizer worked around a two-out double in the seventh to give R-N a chance, but the Scarlet Raiders went down in order in the bottom half.
Walizer was solid in relief for the Scarlet Raiders, allowing two runs on five hits in five innings. The second-year struck out three.
Gallo led the offense with a 3-for-3 (two 2B) performance, and Marflak was 2-for-4 (RBI). Lucas went 1-for-3 (HR, two RBI, R) and Yusko was 2-for-4.
King earned the win in the circle and led the NYU offense, going 3-for-4 with four RBI, and Parulis was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
