Season Preview
CLERMONT, Fla. (March 11, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark softball team opened its 2017 season Saturday. R-N began the day with a 9-1 victory over New England College, and Western Connecticut State University topped the Scarlet Raiders in the nightcap, 7-3.
Rutgers-Newark will take its 1-1 record into a pair of games Sunday, squaring off with Stevenson University (8 a.m.) and the University of Scranton (1 p.m.).
Rutgers-Newark 9, New England College 1 (6 inn.)
The Scarlet Raiders opened the season with a bang, scoring nine times spread across the second and sixth innings, and cruising to the triumph. Newark moved to 1-0 in victory, while NEC dropped to 4-6 in defeat.
The Scarlet Raiders seized control in the second frame, plating five runs on three hits and two errors. Junior
Kelly Yusko (single) and sophomore
Samantha Hoffman (double) ripped hits to start the inning, and junior
Kayla Gallo singled home Yusko with the first run of the season. Hoffman crossed thanks to an error, and junior
Sam Held came around after being hit by a pitch on a run-scoring groundout from freshman
Brielle Mattiello. The final two markers – Gallo and junior
Morgan Schweitzer – scored via an RBI groundout from freshman Sarah Stielher and an NEC throwing error.
After NEC scored its first run of the game in the top half of the sixth inning to make it a 5-1 contest, the Scarlet Raiders ended it with four of their own in the bottom half. Gallo singled to set the table, scoring on a single from junior captain
Elizabeth Marflak. Yusko drove in two with a single up the middle to make it 8-1, and Hoffman singled home junior captain
Morgan Walizer to end it.
Yusko started in the circle and tossed three scoreless innings, scattering three hits and striking out five. Junior
Morgan Walizer came on in relief, and pitched very well, allowing just a single run in three innings. She also gave up just a trio of hits and struck out one.
Yusko went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, Gallo went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, and Hoffman was 2-for-4 with an RBI and run. Marflak and Mattiello had knocks as well as the Scarlet Raiders finished the game eight hits.
Walizer was credited with the victory in the circle, moving to 1-0 on the season.
Western Connecticut State University 7, Rutgers-Newark 3
WCSU took the lead and never let go in Saturday's nightcap to improve to 4-2 on its season.
The Colonials scored three times in the second on five hits to open a 3-0 margin off Yusko – the Game 2 starter – while Newark put two runners on in the first and one each in the second and third but could not score.
A one-out walk to Held in the fourth set the table for the Scarlet Raiders, and Gallo followed with a double to left-center to put runners on second and third. Schweitzer was next to step to the plate, coming through with a lineout to right that allowed the first Rutgers-Newark run to score.
Western Connecticut responded with two of its own, getting a two-run single from Jenna Gaudioso to open a 5-1 advantage.
Yusko and Walizer each pocketed two-out base hits in the Newark half of the fifth, but the threat did not result in pulling closer, and WCSU tacked on a pair of insurance tallies to make it a 7-1 game heading to the sixth.
The Scarlet Raiders loaded the bases with nobody out in the top half of the sixth thanks to an error and two walks, and a Mattiello RBI groundout allowed Held to score the second Newark run of the game. Rutgers trimmed the lead to four (7-3) when Gallo scored on a fielding error, but that would be as close as the Scarlet Raiders could get.
Yusko took the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season, going four innings. She allowed five runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts. Walizer came on and went the final two frames, allowing two runs on three hits.
Freshman Angelina Miller picked up the win for WestConn in her first career start, going six innings and allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and four walks.
The Scarlet Raider offense totaled five hits, getting a 2-for-4 performance from Yusko, and one hit apiece for Stiehler, Walizer and Gallo. Held worked two walks and scored a run. The Colonials tallied 13 hits in the contest with three apiece coming from junior Sofia Palacios and sophomore Hannah Dunlap.
