College Softball
University of Delaware 4, Rider University 1 / 5 innings (Rain)
NEWARK, Del.--Despite out-hitting the Blue Hens four to three, the Rider University softball team lost a non-conference game at Delaware Wednesday afternoon.
The first game of the scheduled doubleheader was called after four and a half innings due to rain and the second game was washed out and will not be made up.
"It was cold and wet," said head coach Tricia Carroll. "It would have been nice to get at least a full game in but this was still better and more beneficial than practicing."
Delaware took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a wild pitch and scored twice in the second on an RBI triple and a Bronc throwing error.
The Blue Hens used an RBI double to take a 4-0 lead in the third inning before freshman Lisa Blanton (Hilliard, Fla./Hilliard) worked a bases loaded walk in the top of the fourth, scoring sophomore Alyssa Paul (Toms River/Toms River HS East). Paul had reached base on an infield hit to the shortstop.
"I'm glad we got some innings in and some live at-bats," Carroll said.
Junior Rachael Matreale (Williamstown) went four innings, recording six strikeouts.
"Rachael threw well in some adverse conditions," Carroll said. "When you are in conditions like this, I look for composure on the mound and she wasn't rattled by the rain at all. Six strikeouts in four innings is good."
Also for the Broncs, freshman Kehli Washington (New Rochelle, N.Y.), senior Amanda Centeno (Ventura, Calif./Buena) and junior Lucy Higgins (Westminster, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) each had singles.
Former East Coast Conference rivals, Rider and Delaware have now met 48 times with the Blue Hens holding a 30-17-1 series lead. The teams met in Lawrenceville last season with Delaware winning 6-5 before the teams tied 4-4 in the nightcap. Delaware won twice by 2-0 scores in Newark in 2009 and won 9-2 and 3-2 in Lawrenceville in 2008. The Broncs last defeated Delaware in 2006.
Rider (6-23) has lost five straight.
The Broncs (1-5 MAAC) open a 10-game home stand at Herb and Joan Young Field, hosting Niagara in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader on Sunday at noon.
"We need to play one pitch at a time," Carroll said. "As banged up as we have been with injuries, we have been close (two conference losses by one run and one by two runs). We just have to play one pitch at a time and see what happens."
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