ECAC Announcement | Bracket | By the Numbers
 
GALLOWAY, N.J. (May 14, 2016) – A record-breaking 2016 season has come to an end for the Rutgers University-Newark softball team. The third-seeded Scarlet Raiders were eliminated from the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro/Upstate Tournament on Saturday, falling 5-0 to second-seeded New York University, and 6-0 to fourth-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson University.
 
Rutgers-Newark finishes its season with a record of 21-21 – the most victories in program history. The appearance in the ECAC Tournament was a first for the Scarlet Raiders who will return their entire roster in 2017 save for senior shortstop Kelsey Lucas who had a marvelous career in Newark.
 
FDU will play the loser of Saturday's final game between top-seeded host Stockton University and NYU on Sunday morning.
 
Sophomore Sam Held, freshman Samantha Hoffman and sophomore Kayla Gallo had hits in the opener against the Violets, with sophomore Kelly Yusko, Hoffman, Gallo, freshman Brittany Robertson and sophomore Melissa Chaquea notching knocks in the second game. Hoffman and Gallo hit safely in each contest for Newark.
 
NYU 5, Rutgers-Newark 0 – Game 1
The tournament's second seed scored single tallies in the second and third innings, pushed across two in the fourth and pushed across their final marker in the sixth.
 
The Scarlet Raiders had five base runners in the game, tallying three hits and a pair of walks. Gallo reached twice, going 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, Held was 1-for-3, Hoffman was 1-for-3 and Yusko worked the other free pass.
 
Yusko suffered the loss in the circle (15-15), allowing a pair of earned runs in three innings of work. She struck out two and walked none, scattering six hits. Sophomore Morgan Walizer worked the final three innings for the Scarlet Raiders, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits.
 
Freshman Karissa Zubulake earned the win for the Violets to improve to 8-1 on the season. She scattered three hits, walked two and fanned two.
 
Rutgers-Newark put two runners on with nobody out in the second, but Zubulake was able to induce a pop up, strikeout and line out to get out of the inning, and NYU was able to build a solid 4-0 lead after four innings.
 
The Violet offense tallied 11 hits on the day, getting two each from freshman Diana King, freshman Dakota Damiani, freshman Jacqueline Finn, freshman Ashley Mains and junior Molly Webber.
 
FDU-Florham 6, Rutgers-Newark 0 – Game 2
The Devils did all the scoring they would need in the first inning, tallying five times to open a 5-0 margin before the Scarlet Raiders came to the plate. The five markers came via four hits and a pair of Scarlet Raider errors, and chased Yusko after .2 of an inning in the circle. She was charged with just one earned run (five total). Walizer did a very strong job in relief for Rutgers, not allowing an earned run (one total) in 6.1 innings of work. She scattered eight hits and struck out three FDU batters.
 
Gallo was able to get into scoring position in the second after a two-out base hit and an erro, and Chaquea led off with a bunt single in the third but R-N could not generate the big hit it needed. The best Raider chance of the nightcap came when they tallied three hits (Yusko, Hoffman and Robertson) in the fourth inning.
 
Senior Sydney Worek improved to 15-6 on the season in the circle for FDU, tossing a complete-game shutout. The Devil offense was led by a 4-for-4 performance from sophomore Taylor Torre and two hits apiece from junior Paige Lillie and sophomore Michelle Mangini.