BRONX, N.Y. (March 23, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark softball team earned a split on the road Thursday at New York University. The Scarlet Raiders took the opener by a 7-6 final, but dropped the nightcap, 12-4.
Rutgers-Newark is now 6-6 on the year and will visit Swarthmore College Sunday afternoon for a non-conference matchup. The Violets move to 7-3 overall.
Rutgers-Newark 7, NYU 6
Juniors
Kelly Yusko and
Morgan Walizer led Rutgers-Newark to the win in the opener, combining for four hits and four RBI at the plate and a win and a save in the circle.
After NYU took a 2-0 lead in the first, Rutgers-Newark responded with four runs in the second to open a 4-2 lead. Walizer singled home freshmen
Brielle Mattiello and
Sarah Stiehler who both singled in the inning, and junior
Sam Held drove in junior
Elizabeth Marflak with a base hit to give the Raiders the lead. Walizer eventually came around to score on an error as the Scarlet Raiders totaled five hits in the frame.
The Violets tied the game in the bottom of the second on a triple from Diana King, and Yusko put her team on top with a leadoff homer in the fifth, tallying her team-high fourth round-tripper of the young season.
Newark plated two key insurance markers in the sixth as Yusko and junior
Kayla Gallo came through with clutch two-out singles. The Raiders also took advantage of an NYU misplay and walk to create some separation in the frame.
The Violets battled, scoring twice in the seventh, but Walizer stranded the game-tying run on third base with a monster strikeout.
Yusko went 2-for-3 with two RBI, a walk and run scored at the dish, and she earned the win in the circle with four innings to improve to 4-2. The junior allowed four runs on five hits and did not walk a batter. Walizer picked up her second save of the year, allowing two unearned runs on two hits with no walks and two strikeouts in three innings.
Newark totaled nine hits in the game, while NYU totaled seven, and the two teams combined for eight errors on a very cold day in New York City. Marflak went 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Gallo, Stiehler and Mattiello had the other Rutgers-Newark hits.
NYU 12, Rutgers-Newark 4
The hosts took control early in the second game and never looked back, pushing across 10 runs on 10 hits in the first frame. Only three of the 10 tallies were earned, but it was too much of a hole for Rutgers-Newark to climb out of.
R-N did battle, scoring four times in the top half of the fourth to cut an 11-run deficit to seven. Walizer delivered a two-run single, Marflak and Stiehler walked, and Yusko and freshman
Brittany Kalesse singled.
Rutgers-Newark threatened in the fifth inning, but could not cash in, and NYU pushed across a run in the fifth to end the game, 12-4.
Yusko suffered the loss in the circle, going 2.1 innings, while Walizer tossed two frames. Walizer was 1-for-3 in the second game with two RBI, and Yusko went 2-for-3 with a run scored. R-N totaled five hits in the second game, working three walks as well.
Sunday's doubleheader against the Garnet of Swarthmore is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch in Pennsylvania.
