NEW YORK, N.Y. (April 21, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Newark softball team swept Baruch College on Randall's Island in New York City Thursday, improving to 16-16 on the season.
It is the latest the Scarlet Raiders have been .500 in any season in the program's history.
Rutgers-Newark rolled to an 8-0 win in the opener, before coming back from a 4-1 deficit in the nightcap and earning a 12-6 triumph.
Rutgers-Newark 8, Baruch 0 – Game 1
The Scarlet Raiders scored in every inning but the first and compiled 15 hits on their way to an 8-0 shutout of the Bearcats for their 15th win of the season. Sophomore
Kayla Gallo homered and doubled and was one of six players with multiple hits in the opener, finishing 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored.
Sophomore
Kelly Yusko earned her 12th win of the season in the circle (12-11), going four innings, scattering three hits and striking out three. Sophomore
Morgan Walizer tossed the final three frames, allowing just two hits and striking out two.
Yusko also went 3-for-5 (two 2B) with a run scored and an RBI, and freshman
Liesel Johnson had the exact same line minus the doubles (3-for-5, R, RBI). Sophomore
Elizabeth Marflak went 2-for-4 with a walk and run scored. Freshman
Samantha Hoffman went 2-for-4 with a run, as did freshman
Brittany Robertson (2-for-4, R), and senior
Kelsey Lucas went 1-for-4 with a triple, run and an RBI.
The Scarlet Raiders tallied six extra-base hits in the game, and the Yusko-Walizer combo allowed just five Bearcat hits and did not walk a batter.
Gallo's homer in the second inning broke a scoreless tie, and the lead moved to 2-0 when Yusko crossed the plate in the third after a Bearcat error. Robertson would score in the fourth, and a Gallo double plated Hoffman and Johnson in the fifth to make it 5-0 Newark. A run-scoring single from Yusko accounted for a single run in the sixth, with a Lucas sacrifice fly and a Johnson single bringing in the final two Scarlet Raider tallies in the game.
Rutgers-Newark 12, Baruch 6 – Game 2
The Bearcats went on top 1-0 after the first and took a 4-1 lead to the third before the Scarlet Raiders started their comeback. The guests plated a run in the third to make it 4-2 and each side scored a single tally in the fourth, with R-N making it a one-score game (5-4) heading to the sixth inning. In that sixth, Rutgers-Newark pushed across six runs to take an 11-6 edge, adding one more for good measure in its final turn at bat.
Rutgers-Newark matched a 15-hit attack in the opener with a 15-hit attack in the second game of the doubleheader, getting multiple hits from five different players.
Lucas led the way with a 4-for-5 performance, blasting her fourth home run of the season. The veteran drove in two runs and scored three of her own. Gallo went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored to finish her day with five hits, and Johnson was 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored. Johnson also had five hits in the doubleheader, as did Lucas. Sophomore
Sam Held went 2-for-4 with two runs, and Robertson was 2-for-3.
Melissa Chaquea went 1-for-2 with two RBI and a run scored, Hoffman was 1-for-3 with two runs and an RBI and Marflak scored twice out of the leadoff splot.
Walizer earned a complete-game victory for the Raiders, tossing seven innings and allowing six runs (four earned) and six hits. She struck out three and is now 4-4 on the season.
The game-changing inning for the Scarlet Raiders was the sixth as they scored seven runs on seven hits. Robertson started it with a walk, Chaquea singled and Lucas drove in the first run. A Johnson triple plated two runs, Gallo came through with an RBI single, and after a Held base hit, Hoffman brought home a run with a single. Robertson was next, driving in Held, and the Bearcats could not recover.
Rutgers-Newark returns to the diamond on Saturday with a key New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader at Stockton University.
Keep it up Ladies! After starting the 2016 season 1-6, Rutgers-Newark has turned its season around in a big way. The team has gone 15-10 over the next 25 games and with continued solid play has a very realistic chance to make the postseason.
