College Softball
Marist College 3, Rider University 1
Marist College 9, Rider University 0 / 5 innings
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.--The Rider University softball team lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader at Marist on Saturday afternoon.
"The first game was great," said head coach Tricia Carroll. "We kind of ran ourselves out of an inning and that eventually cost us. The second game, Marist bunched together some bloppy hits and the game got away from us."
For Rider in the opener, junior Lucy Higgins (Westminster, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) had an RBI double in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie.
Higgins was two for two in the first game.
"We keep getting players in scoring position," Carroll added. "We continue to struggle getting players to step up and get them across the plate."
Marist tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on a home run and took a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning on an infield single.
The Red Foxes used a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning for the final score.
Junior Rachael Matreale (Williamstown) allowed five hits in the complete game effort, recording four strikeouts.
"Rachael pitched well," Carroll said. "And Lucy had some nice hits and we played solid defense. We just couldn't come up with that one hit when we needed it. We get them on base but we are not pushing them around."
In the nightcap, despite two hits from senior Amanda Centeno (Ventura, Calif./Buena) the Broncs were shutout in five innings 9-0.
Marist scored five times on four hits in the second inning and put the game away with four more runs in the fourth inning.
Freshman Krysti Maronski (Woodbury Heights/GCIT) took the loss for the Broncs, allowing seven hits and nine earned runs in four innings.
Rider swept the Red Foxes by 8-4 and 8-0 scores last season and split two games in Poughkeepsie in 2009. The Broncs have won 15 of the 42 games in the series.
Rider travels to Siena (0-4 MAAC) for a conference doubleheader on Sunday. The Saints lost to Fairfield 5-3 in game one and 4-3 in 12 innings in game two on Saturday.
"We have not started off conference play like we needed to," Carroll said about the 1-3 conference start. "We need two games tomorrow. We know what it takes and it will be a matter of getting out there and getting it done."
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