NEW HAVEN, Conn. (March 30, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark softball team split a doubleheader at Albertus Magnus College Thursday evening, exploding for 13 runs in the second game.
 
The Falcons were able to come back for a 4-3 eight-inning win in the opener, but the Scarlet Raiders responded with a 13-4 triumph in the nightcap behind a 17-hit attack.
 
The Scarlet Raiders move to 9-7 on the season and will visit The College of New Jersey Saturday in the New Jersey Athletic Conference opener for both schools. Albertus moves to 9-5 on the season.
 
Albertus Magnus 4, Rutgers-Newark 3 (8 inn.)
The Scarlet Raiders fell in the opener by a score of 4-3 in eight innings. Rutgers-Newark was leading 3-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, but Albertus pushed across one to send the game into extras.
 
R-N was unable to score in its half of the eighth inning, and the Falcons received a game-winning single from freshman Aliza Esposito to end it.
 
The starting pitchers dominated the action early, throwing up eight-straight zeros heading to the fifth inning. It was junior Kelly Yusko for the Scarlet Raiders, allowing just one base hit in the first four frames, and Megan Ferraro for the Falcons, giving up just four knocks over that same span.
 
In the fifth, Yusko staked the Raiders to a 2-0 lead with her bat, blasting a two-out, two-run homer. It was her fifth home run of the season, and it brought home junior Sam Held who singled up the middle to start the two-out rally.
 
Yusko sent down Albertus Magnus in order in the fifth, and Rutgers-Newark scored an insurance run in the sixth. Freshman Brittany Kalesse singled, and after an error put runners on first and second, a double steal put two runners in scoring position. Kalesse then came in to score on a hit from junior Elizabeth Marflak, giving Rutgers a 3-0 advantage.
 
The Falcons scored two runs in their half of the sixth on two hits to make it a 3-2 game, setting the stage for their late comeback.
 
Yusko ended up taking the loss (5-4) in the circle, going seven innings and giving up four runs (three earned). She allowed four hits and walked one while striking out two. Ferraro picked up the win for Albertus Magnus, giving up three runs on three hits.
 
Yusko finished 2-for-3 with a homer, a walk, two RBI and a run scored. Kalesse went 3-for-4 with a run, and Held, junior Morgan Walizer and Marflak had the other Scarlet Raiders hits in the game.
 
Rutgers-Newark 13, Albertus Magnus 4
The Scarlet Raiders pounded out 17 hits in the second game, scoring three or more runs in three different innings. Yusko, junior Morgan Schweitzer and sophomore Samantha Hoffman all had three hits, and junior Kayla Gallo went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and five RBI behind her first career grand slam.
 
Unlike the opener, the two teams scored early. Walizer – the game-two starting pitcher – walked to lead off the game, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on an RBI single from Schweitzer.
 
Albertus answered with two runs in the first to take a 2-1 edge, but Hoffman – who led off the second inning with a single – came around to score the tying tally on a single off the bat of Walizer.
 
Rutgers-Newark would take a 5-2 lead with three runs on four hits in the fourth. Marflak led off the frame with a triple, and she crossed on another run-scoring hit from Schweitzer. Yusko came through with an RBI double to give the Raiders a lead, and a run-scoring single from Gallo accounted for the team's fifth run of the game.
 
The Falcons made it a one-run game with two tallies in their half of the fourth inning, but Gallo delivered the game's biggest hit in the fifth that all-but sealed the win. The blast plated Marflak (HBP), Walizer (1B) and Yusko (BB), and it also came with two outs.
 
Newark added four more runs on five more hits in its final turn at bat, getting a run-scoring single from freshman Sarah Stiehler and a three-run double from Hoffman. Schweitzer, Yusko and Kalesse all had singles in the inning as well.
 
Walizer tossed the first three innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits. She struck out three and walked two. Yusko notched the win, hurling four sparkling innings. She allowed no runs, no hits and two walks, striking out a trio of Falcons for good measure.
 
In addition to Gallo's big game and the trio that tallied three hits, Walizer had two hits and two runs, Stiehler had two hits, a run and an RBI, and Marflak had a hit and two runs scored.
 
Notes:
-Yusko is now 6-4 in the circle. She boasts a ridiculous .527 batting average and an even more ridiculous .855 slugging percentage.
-Every Scarlet Raider in the lineup got on base in the second game
-The 17 hits are the second-most this season for Rutgers-Newark (19 vs Scranton)
-Rutgers-Newark has seven homers this season – five from Yusko and two from Gallo
-Yusko is on a nine-game hitting streak and Kalesse has hit safely in four-straight games.