LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – 10 different Rider University softball players had at least one hit, including Melanie Wilkinson (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) with a walk-off double in Game 2 as the Broncs swept Manhattan, 8-1 and 7-6, Friday afternoon at Herb and Joan Young Field. With the sweep, the Broncs improve to 10-22 (3-5 MAAC), while the Jaspers slip to 14-18 (0-6 MAAC).

In Game 1, the Broncs controlled throughout, taking a 5-0 lead with three runs in the first and two more in the third. A Toni Niño (Adelanto, CA/Silverado) walk and Keegan Zavodnik (Murrieta, CA/Lakeside) hit-by-pitch set the table for Rachael Zeides (Woodbine, NJ/Ocean City), who contributed a two-out RBI single. Gabby Bram (Jackson, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) followed with a two-run single of her own to stake Rider to a 3-0 lead. A wild pitch in the third, along with a line-drive double to center from Bram pushed the Rider lead to 5-0, before two errors and two walks in the top of the sixth gave Manhattan its lone run of the game. Zavodnik emphatically cushioned the lead with a three-run blast to left center, scoring Niño and Wilkinson, who'd singled in front of her.

Elyse Cuttic (Easton, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) went the distance in the circle, allowing just one unearned run, while scattering two hits and two walks and striking out four.

Game 2 started ominously with Jaspers leadoff hitter Lauren Pitney homering off Rider starter Emily Oltman (Collegeville, PA/Perkiomen Valley) on the second pitch of the contest. Oltman would settle down and keep Manhattan off the scoreboard until the fifth, when she departed with runners on first and second with no one out. Both inherited runners would score on reliever Debra Jones (Bordentown, NJ) in the inning and Manhattan further built its lead to 5-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth.

Meanwhile, Manhattan starting pitcher Briana Matazinsky carried a perfect game into the sixth. An error to start the inning rendered the work in progress a no hitter, before Payton Romines (Colorado Springs, CO/Air Academy) tripled down the right-field line to score Sam Ward (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater Raritan) and erase both the no hitter and shutout. Romines sprinted home on a wild pitch and pinch hitter Kiera Swank (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) blistered a double to center, bringing Manhattan Head Coach Tom Pardalis from the Jaspers' dugout with the hook.

Niño greeted reliever Kayla McDermott with a bunt and was initially called out by the first-base umpire. Upon a conference by the umpiring crew, the call was overturned and the Broncs had runners on the corners. A strikeout and a lineout gave Manhattan the first two outs. But a throwing error from third base on a double-play attempt following the line-out allowed Swank to trot home from third. Cuttic followed with a line-drive single to center, cutting the deficit to 5-4, before Manhattan recorded the final out of the sixth.

The Jaspers got an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a home run from Kat Prevo to push the lead to 6-4. An error and a walk put two Broncs aboard to lead off the bottom half inning, before Matazinsky was placed back in the circle. She immediately recorded a strikeout, and following a wild pitch, got a groundout that accomplished the second out, but scored a Rider run, closing the Manhattan lead to 6-5.

Niño then hit a hot shot to second base that went through the Jaspers' second baseman's legs, allowing Ward to score the tying run. Niño took second on a passed ball and scored easily on Wilkinson's game-winning double to left center.   
 
QUOTES & NOTES
"Today, we showed the fight and grit that the new era of Rider Softball is about. I'm proud of our effort and our refuse to lose attitude. Sometimes a little sage shifts the momentum." – Rider Head Coach Davon Ortega

- Cuttic earned her team-leading fifth with of the year.
- Jones took her second victory of the season, allowing three earned runs on four hits and a walk in 3.0 innings pitched. She struck out four.
- Oltman started Game 2 and allowed three earned runs on three hits and six walks. She struck out one.   
- The last time Rider swept a conference doubleheader with both games being completed on the same day was May 2, 2015, against Niagara. Rider also swept Saint Peter's in 2016, but weather postponed the completion of Game 2 a week.
- Rider returns to action tomorrow when it plays host to Saint Peter's in a MAAC doubleheader. First pitch from Herb & Joan Young Field is scheduled for noon.   
 
BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- 10 different Broncs had a hit in the twinbill.  
- Niño, Zeides, Bram and Wilkinson had two hits each.
- Bram and Zavodnik each drove in three.
- Niño led Rider with four runs scored to push her season total to 32. Only Dana Sensi (33 in 2015), Kehli Washington (34 in 2013) and Allyson Melia (40 in 2010) have scored more runs in a single season than Niño in the last 10 years of Rider Softball.
- Through 32 games, Rider is one run shy (163) of doubling its run total from a full 50-game slate in 2017 (82 runs).   
- Rider's RBI leader had 11 last season. Eight Broncs currently have at least 11 RBI's, a ninth has 10 and a 10^th and 11^th have driven in nine.  
- Zavodnik threw out the only attempted base stealer of the day on either side for her fifth caught stealing of the year.