CLERMONT, Fla. (March 12, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark softball team picked up two wins Sunday, shutting out Stevenson University in an early-morning showdown, and coming back for a 16-6 shellacking of the University of Scranton in the afternoon.
 
Rutgers-Newark blanked the Mustangs, 2-0, before rolling over the Royals, improving to 3-1 on the young season. The Scarlet Raiders will take a day off from games before returning to action with a pair Tuesday against Framingham State University and Hood College.
 
Rutgers-Newark 2, Stevenson 0
The Scarlet Raiders made it two wins in three tries Saturday morning, blanking Stevenson 2-0. Juniors Kelly Yusko and Morgan Walizer combined on a six-hit shutout, with juniors Kayla Gallo and Elizabeth Marflak driving in the two Rutgers-Newark runs.
 
Yusko picked up the win in the circle to even her record at 1-1. She went five innings and scattered five hits. Walizer pocketed her first save of the season, hurling two frames and giving up one hit.
 
After Yusko stranded a pair of runners on the bases in the top of the second, Rutgers-Newark went in front in the bottom half. Gallo started the inning with a single and moved into scoring position on a productive groundout from freshman Sarah Stiehler. Junior Morgan Schweitzer moved her to third and Marflak followed with a run-scoring single.
 
A Held single to open the third set the table, and she moved to second on a groundout from Yusko. Sophomore Samantha Hoffman pushed her over to third, and a Gallo base knock made it 2-0 in favor of the Scarlet Raiders.
 
Yusko stranded a pair in the fourth and she left the bases loaded in the fifth, with Walizer stranding the bases full in the sixth and two more in the seventh to earn the win.
 
R-N totaled five hits in the game. Held went 1-for-1 with a run scored and two walks and Gallo was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Marflak finished 1-for-3 with a run batted in, and Yusko was 1-for-3 as well.
 
Rutgers-Newark 16, Scranton 6
The Scarlet Raiders pushed across four runs in the first inning and never let go of the lead, rolling over Scranton 16-6 to close out Sunday action.
 
Rutgers-Newark pounded out 19 hits in scoring 16 runs, getting multiple knocks from six different players. Yusko and Gallo each hit home runs, and Walizer earned a complete-game win in the circle to move to 1-1 on the season.
 
Yusko went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI, while Gallo was 3-for-4 with three runs, three RBI and a walk. Walizer went 3-for-5 with three runs, Schweitzer was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, Hoffman was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs and Stiehler was 2-for-4 with two runs.
 
R-N tallied four runs on five hits in the first, and after Scranton plated a trio of runs in its half of the inning to get within a single marker, a Yusko single in the second made it a 5-3 game.
Rutgers-Newark scored four times in the fifth inning, using Yusko's home run and a two-run single from Schweitzer to break the game open. Gallo homered for the 10th run of the game in the sixth, and run-scoring hits from Yusko, Gallo, Hoffman and freshman Brittany Kalesse in the seventh accounted for the final 16-6 margin.
 
Whoa A! Kayla Gallo is hitting .667 through four games this season. She is also slugging an absurd 1.083 which means she is averaging more than a base per at-bat.
Whoa B! Kelly Yusko is hitting .563 so far, driving in a team-high six RBI.