LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University softball team scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 2 to split a doubleheader with Marist, Sunday afternoon at Herb & Joan Young Field. With the split, the Broncs finish the season 17-33 (8-12 MAAC), while the Red Foxes claimed the sixth-and-final MAAC Championship berth at 24-30 (9-11 MAAC). The 17 wins represent an 11-win improvement from 2017 and the eight league wins are a seven-win improvement from last season.

The Red Foxes scored in all six innings in Game 1 to take the 13-4 win. An error and a two-run home run in the top of the first staked Marist to a 2-0 lead before an RBI single and a bases-loaded walk made it 4-0 after a half inning. Ali Milam made it 5-0 with her second home run in as many innings in the second. Keegan Zavodnik's (Murrieta, CA/Lakeside) fielder's choice plated a run in the bottom of the second, before Sam Ward (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater Raritan) scored two more with a two-run single. But the Broncs would draw no closer. Marist added one run in the third, two more in the fourth, another in the fifth and struck for four in the top of the sixth. The Broncs' lone run in the span was Zavodnik's fourth home run of the season, a solo shot in the fourth.

Marist's scoring continued in the top of the first of Game 2, with a single and two walks leading to a run scoring fielder's choice. The Broncs fought back with three runs in the bottom of the frame. Niño led off with a walk, took second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Elyse Cuttic's (Easton, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) two-out RBI single to left. Kiera Swank (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) followed with a majestic shot to left over the wall for a two-run home run, her first of the season, giving Rider a 3-1 lead after one. 

Marist followed with four runs in the top of the second and tacked on another in the fourth to take a 6-3 lead. The Broncs got a run back in the bottom of the fifth, when Niño doubled, moved to third on a Sabrina Torres (Clifton, NJ/Paramus Catholic) infield single and scored on a throwing error on the play to cut the deficit to 6-4. In the seventh, Debra Jones (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown) pinch hit and reached on a wild pitch on strike three. Niño followed with a single and both runners moved up on a groundout, before Brianna Parisio (Sayreville, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial), who reentered for Jones on the base paths, scored on Monica Clark's (Bryn Mawr, PA/Archbishop Carroll) groundout. With two outs, Cuttic singled up the middle to plate Niño, tying the game at 6-6. Shelby Miller (Roseville, CA/Whitney) immediately followed with a lined shot to the right-center field gap and Cuttic scored the game-winning run all the way from first.
 
QUOTES & NOTES
"I'm so proud of the fight that we showed today and what a good strong way to send our seniors off. One of our goals this season was to never give up and to never stop fighting and we accomplished that goal and ultimately set a new standard of excellence for the future of Rider softball." - Rider Head Coach Davon Ortega

- Cuttic took both decisions in the circle. She departed after just two thirds of an inning in Game 1, allowing four runs, three earned, on three hits and a walk. She entered in the second inning of Game 2 and allowed just one earned run on four hits and a walk over 5.2 innings for her team-leading eighth win of the year.     
- Debra Jones (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown) got her first career hit and reached safely in all three plate of her plate appearances on the day.
- The hit and RBI were the first of the year for Miller.
- Swank's home run was her first of the year and the second of her career. The first came on March 7, 2016 against North Carolina A&T – her fifth collegiate game.
- Picked to finish tied for 10^th in the MAAC this season, Rider finishes in a tie for eighth with Canisius and Niagara, with the group just a game in the standings behind Marist and Quinnipiac for sixth place.
- Between games, Rider honored its three-member senior class, comprised of Clark, Niño and team manager Samantha Collura.
 
BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- A day after eclipsing Deanna Dovak's 17-year old Rider single-season record of 41 runs scored and pushing the record to 44, Niño scored three more runs today to cement the record at 47.
- Cuttic led the Broncs offensively, going 3-for-4 with two RBI's and two runs scored.
- Payton Romines (Colorado Springs, CO/Air Academy), Gabby Bram (Jackson, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) and Niño had two hits each.
- Zavodnik homered, drove in two and scored twice, all in Game 1.
- Swank drove in two with a two-run home run.
- Ward also produced two RBI's with a single in Game 1.
- Jones, Torres, Zavodnik, Swank, Miller and Ward had one hit apiece.   
- Rider's 17 wins are its most since 2012, when the Broncs won 20 games. Rider's eight league wins are the most since 2010, when the Broncs went 8-8 for the second-straight year. The last Rider team to win more than eight games was the 2006 squad that went 10-6 to qualifier for the Broncs' last MAAC Championship berth.  
- Rider has scored 239 runs this season, good for 4.78 runs per game. In the same 50-game slate in 2017, the Broncs scored only 82 runs (1.64 runs per game).  
- Rider's RBI leader had 11 last season. 12 Broncs had at least 11 RBI's in 2018.