NEWARK, N.J. (April 13, 2016) – Sophomore pitcher
Morgan Walizer threw a no-hitter in the nightcap and the Scarlet Raiders pushed across a season-high 20 runs in the opener as Rutgers University-Newark swept Yeshiva University in a non-conference softball doubleheader Wednesday at Alumni Field.
The victories snap a four-game skid for the Scarlet Raiders who improve to 11-13 overall. Yeshiva falls to 5-16 with the losses.
Rutgers-Newark has a quick turnaround and will do so in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), heading to Ramapo College Thursday afternoon for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.
The Scarlet Raiders banged out 17 hits in the opener, and in addition to Walizer's dominance in the circle, they got a three-hit, three-RBI performance from freshman
Liesel Johnson in the second game. Johnson finished the day 6-for-8 with six RBI and four runs scored.
Rutgers-Newark 20, Yeshiva 1 (5 inn.) – Game 1After Yusko retired the side in the first, the Scarlet Raiders took the lead for good in the bottom half, scoring three times. Sophomore
Elizabeth Marflak started the inning with a single, coming around to score on a throwing error. Sophomore
Sam Held doubled in a run and freshman
Samantha Hoffman came through with an RBI groundout to account for the final two scores of the inning.
In the second, R-N exploded for seven runs on six hits to take a 10-1 lead after two. Senior
Kelsey Lucas, sophomore
Kelly Yusko, freshman
Liesel Johnson, Hoffman, sophomore
Morgan Walizer and freshman
Brittany Robertson all had hits, with Robertson (1B), Hoffman (2B) and Johnson (2B) all bringing in two runs with their knocks.
Rutgers-Newark tacked on a single tally in the third to go up 10 (11-1), getting a fielder's choice groundout from Hoffman and base hits from Yusko and Johnson.
In the fourth, the Scarlet Raiders added nine more runs on seven hits for the final margin of 20-1. Marflak had two run-scoring hits (2B, 1B) as Lucas (1B), Hoffman (1B) and sophomore
Kayla Gallo (2B) all had one for the hosts.
Rutgers-Newark finished the game with 17 hits as six different Scarlet Raiders had multiple knocks. Marflak finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored, and Johnson was 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBI. Hoffman drove in a game-high five runs, scoring two and tallying two hits, and Lucas was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Walizer went 2-for-3 with three runs and two RBI.
Yusko evened her record in the circle at 9-9 with a complete-game two-hitter, giving up just one unearned run and striking out a season-high 11. The sophomore standout also got it done at the plate, going 2-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI.
Rutgers-Newark 8, Yeshiva 0 (6 inn.) – Game 2The clear story of the second contest was Walizer who improved to 2-3 on the season with the no-hitter, walking three and striking out a career-high 11 in the process.
Walizer was able to work around two base runners in the top half of the first, as was Yeshiva hurler Rachel Mirsky, but the rest was relatively smooth sailing for the Raider sophomore.
Newark put on the first two runners on in the second, and a two-out, two-RBI single from Marflak put the Scarlet Raiders up 2-0 heading to the third inning. Walizer struck out the side in the third after doing the same in the first, and she had a season-high eight after three frames.
A single run in the third and four in fourth made it 7-0 Rutgers-Newark with the big hit coming off the bat of Johnson who caught the second game. Johnson took an outside fastball the other way, driving in Lucas and Marflak and scoring herself on a throwing error.
Johnson ended the game when she laced a two-out double to right-center for her third extra-base hit of the game and her sixth hit of the night. The rip brought in Lucas, sealing the victory and Walizer's no-no.
Marflak finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored as the Scarlet Raiders had 11 hits in game two, six of which came from Marflak and Johnson. Lucas, Held, Hoffman, Gallo and Walizer had the others with Lucas scoring twice and driving in a run.
