JERSEY CITY, N.J. (April 27, 2016) – Senior Kelsey Lucas homered and had five hits, sophomore Morgan Walizer homered and earned a win in the circle and freshman Liesel Johnson had six hits as the Rutgers University-Newark softball team swept a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) doubleheader at New Jersey City University Wednesday.

Rutgers-Newark took the opener 11-4 via a seven-run sixth inning, and the Raiders won the nightcap, 5-0.
 
With the wins, the Scarlet Raiders improve to 18-18 overall and 6-10 in the conference with four games remaining on the 2016 slate. The six conference victories are the most inside the NJAC in Rutgers-Newark history. The Gothic Knights fall to 11-25 overall and 0-16 in the conference. Per NJCU sports information, the all-time series between the two schools is now deadlocked at 35-35.
 
Rutgers-Newark visits non-conference foe Wilkes University Thursday night for a pair, and hosts NJAC rival Rowan University in its regular-season finale Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
 
Rutgers-Newark 11, NJCU 4 – Game 1
The sixth inning was the difference in the second game as the Scarlet Raiders pushed across seven runs and received multiple hits from two players to turn a 2-2 stalemate into a 9-2 lead
 
Lucas helped Rutgers-Newark to a 2-0 lead in the top half of the first inning with her team-leading fifth homer of the year, belting the third pitch she saw over the wall in center field. The blast brought in sophomore Elizabeth Marflak who walked to lead off the game for the Scarlet Raiders.
 
NJCU countered with a homer of its own in the bottom of the first inning as junior Brittany Paulikas connected on her fourth round tripper of the year to pull the Gothic Knights even.
 
Scarlet Raider sophomore starter Kelly Yusko settled in nicely, working around single base runners in the third, fourth and fifth innings to keep the game tied at two apiece heading to the sixth.
 
NJCU starter Jayla Lee Vega was equally impressive in that span, holding the Scarlet Raiders to just two knocks after a three-hit first as both Lucas and Marflak picked up singles for the guests.
 
In the sixth, Yusko and Johnson singled to set the table and following a walk to sophomore Sam Held, freshman Samantha Hoffman plated pinch runner Jenn Wooley to give Rutgers-Newark a 3-2 lead. Sophomore Kayla Gallo was next, making it 4-2 Raiders with a single through the hole, and Walizer pushed across two more with a one-out base knock to center field. Marflak's second hit of the day filled the bases, the fifth run of the inning crossed the plate thanks to a Lucas sacrifice fly and singles from Yusko and Johnson made it 9-2 as the pair each picked up their second hits of the frame.
 
Walizer homered in the seventh, blasting her first career round tripper and scoring Hoffman who singled to start the inning.
 
Rutgers-Newark had 16 hits in the opener. Marflak (3-for-4, 2R), Johnson (3-for-4, R, RBI) and Hoffman (3-for-4, 2R, RBI) all had three hits and six different players drove in runs. Walizer finished 2-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored, and Lucas was 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored. Yusko went 2-for-5 and earned the complete-game win in the circle to improve to 13-13, notching five strikeouts and scattering eight hits.
 
Paulikas led NJCU with a 2-for-4, three RBI performance.
 
Rutgers-Newark 5, NJCU 0 – Game 2
Walizer earned her fifth win of the season in the nightcap, tossing a complete-game four-hit shutout. The Scarlet Raiders pounded out 12 more hits as they finished the doubleheader with 28, getting three from Lucas (3-for-4, 2R, RBI) and Johnson (3-for-4, 2RBI). Walizer went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI to finish the doubleheader with five hits, and Yusko went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
 
The Scarlet Raiders would score the game-winner in the third inning when Lucas singled in Marflak who had tripled earlier in the inning, and in the fourth, Walizer helped her cause with a base hit up the middle. That knock scored Held.
 
Johnson made it a 3-0 game in the fifth inning, plating Lucas, and two runs in the sixth for the guests gave the Scarlet Raiders the 5-0 margin they won by. Yusko delivered a single to right field that allowed Walizer to cross the plate, and Johnson brought in Lucas with her team-leading sixth hit of the doubleheader.
 
Walizer hit a batter in the first and retired the side in order in the second and third before working out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth. The second-year Raider sent down the Gothic Knights in order in the fifth, allowed a single base runner in the sixth and was helped out by a double play in the seventh. She is now 5-4 overall with two shutouts and five complete games.