College Softball
Lafayette College 8, Rider University 0
Lafayette College 9, Rider University 1
EASTON, Pa.?The Rider University softball team was swept in a non-conference doubleheader at Lafayette Tuesday afternoon. “Lafayette hit the ball very well,” said head coach Tricia Carroll. “They hit anything we threw up there.”
For Rider (5-12), senior Tiffany Day-Neutill (Agoura Hills, Calif./Oaks Christian) had two hits, including her second home run of the season.
In the opener, Lafayette (9-12) threw a five-inning complete game one-hitter as sophomore catcher Megan Kozlowski (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock-North) hit a one out single in the first inning for Rider. The Leopards retired the next 14 batters in a row to finish the game.
“I was more frustrated that we weren't hitting the ball as well,” said Carroll. “We had almost two weeks between games due to the weather but that's not an excuse to not come out with excitement and enthusiasm and looking like we want to play. We got down early and stayed down.”
In the nightcap, Day-Neutill hit a two out home run to centerfield, giving Rider a 1-0 lead. The Leopards responded with four runs in the bottom of the first and scored in every inning to end the game on the eight run mercy rule in the fifth.
Day-Neutill now has 174 career hits, 11th highest all-time at Rider.
Also for the Broncs, senior Jessica Holland (Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) had a double.
“We could have had more effort and energy,” Carroll added. “Those are the things we can control and we didn't do that today. The positive is that we got to play. We need to take what we learned from Lafayette and execute better for the next game. Lafayette came out ready to play and showed us what you can do when you swing the bat.”
Rider travels to Columbia for a non-conference doubleheader on Thursday.
“We need to go out and be competitive everyday,” said Carroll. “We need better at-bats. We're on to the next one and we need to focus on doing better Thursday than we did today.”
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