CLEARWATER, FL – The Rider University softball team's comeback from down six came up a run short in a 12-11 loss to Chattanooga Saturday afternoon at the USF – Under Armour Showcase. The Broncs also fell to Southern Illinois, 10-0, earlier in the day. With the losses, Rider slips to 2-10 on the season.

Against Southern Illinois, the Salukis got four runs in the second and six more in the third to take the 10-0 win in five innings. Meanwhile, the Broncs could only muster two hits, one each from Monica Clark (Bryn Mawr, PA/Archbishop Carroll) and Payton Romines (Colorado Springs, CO/Air Academy) in the contest.   

The Broncs got on the board first in the top of the first against Chattanooga, with a Romines walk and singles from Elyse Cuttic (Easton, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) and Rachael Zeides (Woodbine, NJ/Ocean City), all with two out. But a pair of two-run doubles in the bottom of the first gave Chattanooga a 4-1 lead.

Singles from Toni Nino (Adelanto, CA/Silverado), Amanda Jordan (Somerset, NJ/Franklin Township) and Cuttic cut the deficit to 4-2 in the top of the third, but Chattanooga immediately got the run back in the bottom of the third and added three more in the bottom of the fourth.

Rider wouldn't go away, however, with Zeides walking with the bases loaded and Clark clearing the bases with a double to make it an 8-6 deficit in the top of the fifth. Southern Illinois responded by tacking on another run in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the sixth to push its lead to 12-6. Rider scored five in the top of the seventh, including two on a Nino double, and put runners on the corners with two out. But Cuttic's line drive was snared at first base for the final out.  
 
NOTES
- Cuttic took the loss in the circle against Southern Illinois, allowing 10 runs, seven earned, on seven hits and three walks in 2.2 innings pitched.
- Debra Jones (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown) pitched 1.1 perfect innings of relief against the Salukis.  
- Rider used four pitchers against Chattanooga, with Emily Oltman (Collegeville, PA/Perkiomen Valley) starting and taking the loss. She allowed four earned runs on four hits and three walks in an inning of work.
 
BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Cuttic led the Broncs with three hits on the day. She also scored a run and drove in one.
- Clark and Jordan had two hits apiece. Clark doubled and drove in three, while also scoring a run.
- Jordan, Zeides and Nino scored twice each, with Zeides and Nino also driving in two.
- Zeides, Nino, Brianna Parisio (Sayreville, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial) and Romines each added a hit.