College Softball
Monmouth University 7, Rider University 2
Monmouth University 8, Rider University 1
WEST LONG BRANCH?The Rider University softball team was swept in a non-conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon at Monmouth. “The games were closer than the scores indicated,” said head coach Tricia Carroll. “It was one of those days where everything we hit, we hit right at someone.”
In the opener, the Broncs were held to four hits, falling 7-2.
Trailing 2-0 in the fifth inning, junior Katy Mills (Seattle, Wash./Mount Rainier) hit the first home run of her collegiate career, bringing Rider to within one at 2-1. Mills scored both runs for the Broncs in game one. “Katy had a nice hit on her home run,” Carroll added. “It was just frustrating that we couldn't catch a break and get that one big hit with runners in scoring position. We would make good contact but we couldn't get a ball to drop.”
Monmouth added five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, putting the game out of reach.
“Monmouth is a very good hitting team,” said Carroll. “We were in the first game pretty much right up to the end. Monmouth strung a couple of hits together to open it up and we hit the ball right at them.”
Also for the Broncs in the opener, sophomore Candice Harris (Las Vegas, Nev./Coronado) added a double.
In the second game, Rider (7-14) sophomore Megan Kozlowski (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock-North) singled and scored on two Monmouth errors, giving the Broncs a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Hawks scored two in the third and three in the fourth and added three more runs in the sixth for the final score.
Kozlowski, Mills and Harris each had two hits in the doubleheader.
Rider travels to Rutgers for a single game on Tuesday before hosting Delaware in a doubleheader on Wednesday.
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