CLERMONT, Fla. (March 14, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark softball team split a pair of games Tuesday in Florida, earning a thrilling comeback win over Framingham State University to start the day, but falling to Hood College to end it.
 
The Scarlet Raiders pushed across three runs in the top of the seventh to top FSU, but faltered late in a tough loss to Hood. Rutgers-Newark is now 4-2 on the 2017 season and will return to action with games against the University of Rochester (3:30 p.m.) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (6 p.m.) Wednesday.
 
Rutgers-Newark 5, Framingham 4
The Scarlet Raiders won an incredible back-and-forth battle to start the day, topping Framingham State, 5-4. After FSU came back to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, Rutgers-Newark scored three times with two outs in the top of the seventh for the win.
 
Freshman Sarah Stiehler doubled to lead off the seventh, giving the Scarlet Raiders life, and she scored on a two-out ground-rule double to left off the bat of junior Morgan Walizer. Junior Morgan Schweitzer was next, singling on a 2-0 pitch to bring home the tying run and moving all the way to third base on a throwing error. Schweitzer crossed with the winning run on a single from junior Sam Held, and junior Kelly Yusko – who returned to the circle in the bottom of the sixth after starting the game – worked around a baserunner in the seventh to lock down the win.
 
The pitchers starred for both teams early in the action, putting up zero after zero and allowing just three combined hits through the first four innings of play.
 
Yusko started and went the first three frames for Rutgers-Newark, allowing just one hit and striking out three. Walizer came on in the fourth and sent down the Rams, and the Scarlet Raider offense struck in its half of the fifth.
 
Stiehler (single) and freshman Brielle Mattiello (HBP) put runners on first and second with one out, and a sacrifice bunt for freshman Brittany Kalesse advanced the runners with two outs. That brought up Walizer who came through with a clutch hit, singling to right field and giving her squad a 2-0 lead.
 
Framingham cut the lead in half with one run in the fifth inning, and pulled in front in the sixth, pushing across three runs on four hits to open a 4-2 lead to set the stage for the Raider comeback.
 
Rutgers-Newark totaled 10 hits in the opener. Walizer led the way going 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored. Stiehler went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Yusko was 2-for-4. Schweitzer and Held each had a hit and an RBI, with Yusko moving to 2-1 on the season after tossing 4.2 innings of scoreless softball with four strikeouts.
 
Hood 9, Rutgers-Newark 7
The Scarlet Raiders started fast in the second game, but the Blazers were able to come back late, scoring three times in their half of the seventh to earn the win.
 
After Hood rallied back from a five-run deficit to tie the score 6-6 through the top half of the sixth inning, it was Held who came through again for Rutgers-Newark with a big hit, striking a single to left field to drive in junior Elizabeth Marflak with the lead run.
 
A tough Blazer squad battled back, this time taking an 8-7 lead when Kayli Paugh doubled home a pair with one out in the seventh. Hood tacked on an insurance marker later, and the Blazers stranded two in scoring position to escape with the triumph.
 
The Scarlet Raiders scored a single tally in the first and two more in the second to take a 3-0 lead. Held doubled home Walizer to start the scoring, with Marflak and Walizer delivering run-scoring singles in the second. Yusko smashed a two-run homer to give her team a 5-0 edge in the third, depositing her second round tripper of the season over the wall in left field.
 
Hood (3-3) picked up its first hit in the fourth inning which also was its first run of the game as junior Kristy Erfurdt homered. Later in the inning, Roo Saglimbeni cleared the wall in left-center, cutting the Rutgers-Newark lead to two (5-3) with a two-run shot, and the Blazers scored once more in the frame to make it a 5-4 game.
 
Rutgers got one back with back-to-back two-out hits in the bottom of the fourth as Held singled home Schweitzer after she doubled to right-center, but Hood answered with single tallies in the fifth and sixth to tie things at 6-all.
 
The Scarlet Raiders totaled 13 hits in the second game, and they were led by Held who went 3-for-3 with three RBI. Junior Kayla Gallo went 2-for-4, Marflak was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Stiehler was 2-for-4 as well.
 
Yusko went four innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and five strikeouts. Walizer went three innings, giving up four runs on six hits with five strikeouts, also suffering the loss (2-1).
 
Junior Alex Herschman improved to 1-1 in the circle, allowing two runs and seven hits in four innings for the victory.