GREENSBORO, NC - The Rider University softball team battled, but was defeated twice Saturday at the North Carolina A&T Invitational. The Broncs dropped the opener to Alabama A&M, 5-1, before falling to the host Aggies, 7-3. With the losses, the Broncs fall to 0-12, while the Lady Bulldogs moved to 10-7 and the Aggies improved to 3-12.

Against the Lady Bulldogs, freshman Giana Epps (Pottstown, PA/ Pottstown) singled up the middle and later scored the Broncs' lone run of the game on a throwing error in the top of the first inning. Rider would maintain a 1-0 lead until the bottom third, when Alabama A&M's Jamia Kirk tied the game by crossing home on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Dorian Edwards gave Alabama A&M a 2-1 lead with an RBI single through the left side. Alabama A&M added insurance runs over the next two innings by scoring one run in the fourth and two more in the fifth extending their lead to 5-1, which would hold up to be the final score.

Against North Carolina A&T, the Aggies immediately made the Broncs pay for a hit-by-pitch and an error to the first two batters in the bottom of the first. Both runners came around to score on a Zadaisha Waddell two-run single. A wild pitch and an RBI single pushed Waddell across the plate for a 3-0 Aggies lead after one. The Broncs would tie the game with a run in the third and two more in the fifth. Kelsey Marigliano (Seaford, NY/Plainledge) walked and scored on a Lani Moreno (Claremont, CA/Claremont) double in the third, before Rachael Zeides (Woodbine, NJ/Ocean City) hit a two-out, two-run home run in the fifth to tie it at 3-3.

But North Carolina A&T would respond with a four-run bottom of the fifth, doing their damage on four singles, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Rider threatened with a walk and an infield single in the sixth, but didn't get a runner past second base the rest of the way.  
 
NOTES
- Emily Oltman (Collegeville, PA/Perkiomen Valley) started against Alabama A&M and took the loss, allowing three earned runs on two hits, two walks. She struck out four, but uncorked four wild pitches.  
- Debra Jones (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown) pitched two innings of relief, allowing two earned runs on five hits without walking a batter. She also pitched a perfect 1.2 innings of relief to close out the North Carolina A&T game.
- Elyse Cuttic (Easton, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) took the loss against North Carolina A&T, allowing four earned runs on five hits and five walks over 4.1 innings pitched. She struck out one.
- Cuttic entered in the first inning in relief of starter Brooklyn Trujillo (Henderson, CO/Prairie View). Trujillo faced the first five batters, with all five reaching on a hit-by-pitch, an error, two singles and a walk.  
- The Broncs close out Aggie Invitational action Sunday, when they face Brown at 9:30 a.m.  
 
BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Moreno and Epps led the Broncs with two hits each. One of Moreno's two hits was a double.  
- Zeides' home run was the Broncs' first of the season. She finished with a two-high two RBI's to go along with a run scored on the day.
- Epps and Marigliano also each added a run scored, as did Grace Stansfield (Philadelphia, PA/William Penn Charter).
- Marigliano was successful on both of her stolen-base attempts, her first two as a Bronc, giving her the team lead. Rider is 4-for-4 on the year in stolen-base attempts, with Moreno and Brianna Parisio (Sayreville, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial) each successfully swiping a bag.  
- The Broncs drew nine walks on the day, including two each from Zeides and Amanda Jordan (Somerset, NJ/Franklin).