CLERMONT, Fla. (March 9, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark softball season started with a bang on Saturday in Florida as the Scarlet Raiders scored 22 runs in a pair of triumphs.
 
R-N opened the day with a 9-1 throttling of Finlandia, and closed with a 13-11 triumph over Anderson.
 
The Scarlet Raiders are off Sunday but return to action Monday with games against Endicott College and Keene State University.
 
Rutgers-Newark 9, Finlandia 1
It was Finlandia scoring the first marker of the day in the first inning, but from that point, senior Kelly Yusko kept the Lions off the board to pick up her first win of the season. Yusko struck out four in the six-inning complete-game win.
 
Senior Morgan Walizer drove home Yusko in the first, and Rutgers-Newark took the lead for good in the second with three runs. The big blow was a two-out run-scoring double from freshman Jaclyn Arute. Newark added a single tally in the third, and ended the game with four in the sixth, the last run crossing in the form of sophomore Sarah Stiehler on an RBI hit from Yusko.
 
A box score will be compiled and posted as soon as possible.
 
Rutgers-Newark 13, Anderson 11
The Scarlet Raiders scored 10 runs in the game's first three innings to open a 10-2 lead.
 
Freshman Julie Contravo drove in Arute with a groundout in the first, and after Anderson took a 2-1 lead, Stiehler, Yusko and Contravo all had run-scoring hits to put Rutgers-Newark up 7-2.
 
In the third, Arute drove in sophomore Brielle Mattiello and senior Kayla Gallo with a single, and Stiehler crossed on a wild pitch in the same frame to push the lead to 10-2.
 
Anderson cut the lead to four (10-6) with four scores in fourth, but a two-run bomb off the bat of senior Morgan Schweitzer extended the Newark lead back to six. AU chipped away around a run-scoring two-bagger from Yusko in seventh, but the Scarlet Raiders were able to get the late outs they needed for the win.
 
R-N totaled 16 hits in the game, and Yusko led the way going 4-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. Arute had two hits, two RBI, two walks and three runs scored, and Mattiello went 3-for-4 with two runs. Senior Morgan Walizer went 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
 
Freshman Paige Masiello earned the win in the circle, going five innings, and Kelly Yusko locked down her first save of the season.