LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University softball team scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to walk off with a 5-4 Game 1 win over Villanova Tuesday evening at Herb and Joan Young Field. The Wildcats would salvage a split with a 12-1 win in five innings in Game 2. With the split, Rider moves to 13-25, while the Wildcats are now 23-18-1.

Two of Villanova's three first inning runs in Game 1 were unearned and the Wildcats built a 4-0 lead through three. The Broncs scratched across a run on Gabby Bram's (Jackson, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) two-out RBI double to left, scoring Melanie Wilkinson (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South), who'd walked to lead off the inning.

Rider added a second run in the sixth on a two-out RBI single from Payton Romines (Colorado Springs, CO/Air Academy). In the seventh, Toni Niño (Adelanto, CA/Silverado) reached on a hit-by-pitch and pinch hitter Sabrina Torres (Clifton, NJ/Paramus Catholic) singled with one out. Elyse Cuttic (Easton, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) and Bram followed with consecutive RBI doubles to tie the game, before the Wildcats recorded the second out. But Romines lined a single through the left side to score Cuttic with the winning run.

Villanova controlled Game 2, scoring the game's first 12 runs. The Wildcats got four in the first, another in the second and scored seven runs in the fourth to blow the game open. Rider scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth, as Romines again plated Cuttic with a single up the middle.
 
QUOTES & NOTES
"What we're trying to learn is that we actually can stick with really good teams. They're an outstanding team. They're very talented, they swing the bats really well. So we learned that we can hang with them. And then we fell off. Once we get in the hole, we don't know how to get out of it. We hang our head. Overall, I'm happy. To split with a team like that, I'll take that. But we've got a lot of work to do." – Rider Head Coach Davon Ortega

- Romines has now either driven in or scored the game-winning run in three of Rider's 13 wins this season.
- Cuttic went the distance in the Game 1 win, her team-leading sixth of the year. She allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits without walking a batter. She struck out four.
- Emily Oltman (Collegeville, PA/Perkiomen Valley) started Game 2 and took the loss.  
- Megan Master (Ventnor City, NJ/Atlantic City) pitched a scoreless inning of relief in Game 2, allowing two hits, while striking out two.   
- Rider returns to action Thursday, when it plays host to Drexel. The doubleheader is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. first pitch.  
 
BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- The Broncs won their eighth-straight game at home before falling in Game 2. On the year, Rider is now 8-2 at Herb and Joan Young Field. - Five different Broncs had multiple hits, led by Bram's 4-for-5 effort with a pair of doubles and two RBI's.
- Rider's 13 wins are their most since 2012, when the Broncs won 20 games.
- Romines went 3-for-5 with three RBI's, while Kiera Swank (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) also went 3-for-5.
- Amanda Jordan (Somerset, NJ/Franklin) and Rachael Zeides (Woodbine, NJ/Ocean City) also added two hits apiece.
- Torres singled in her only plate appearance of the day and came around to score in the Broncs' game-winning rally in Game 1.
- Cuttic doubled, scored a team-high three runs and drove in another.
- Niño scored her 35^th run of the year. Only Allyson Melia (40 in 2010) has scored more runs in a single season than Niño in the last 10 years of Rider Softball.
- Through 38 games, Rider has scored 185 runs. In a full 50-game slate in 2017, the Broncs scored only 82 runs.  
- Rider's RBI leader had 11 last season. 10 Broncs currently have at least 11 RBI's and an 11^th has nine.   
- Swank threw out her fifth attempted base stealer of the season.