LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ –
Kiera Swank (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) and
Rachael Zeides (Woodbine, NJ/Ocean City) hit Game 2 home runs as the Rider University softball team split with Fairleigh Dickinson Wednesday. The Broncs dropped Game 1, 3-2, before winning Game 2, 4-2. With the split, the Broncs move to 7-33, while the Knights are now 12-31.
The Broncs led nearly throughout in Game 1, before FDU came back to score the tying and go-ahead runs with two out in the top of the seventh. The Broncs took a 1-0 lead on
Gabby Bram's (Jackson, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) RBI single to left in the second and added another run on
Gianna Epps' (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) bases-loaded walk in the third. The Knights got one back in the top of the sixth on an RBI single from Madison Emerson. Rider pitcher
Debra Jones (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown) retired the first two Knights in the seventh, but FDU pieced together a single and a walk before to put the tying and go-ahead runs aboard and Amarys Miller-Godsey brought both base runners in with a two-out, two-run single to right center. FDU pitcher Erica Johnson set the Broncs down in order in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win.
In Game 2, the Knights took a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the second. A hit-by-pitch, a pair of errors and an RBI single pushed FDU out in front before
Kiera Swank's (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) solo shot in the bottom of the inning cut the Knights' lead to 2-1. But the Broncs would score three in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead. After the first two Broncs to bat were set down,
Grace Stansfield (Philadelphia, PA/William Penn Charter) doubled to center.
Elyse Cuttic's (Easton, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) sharp grounder took a bad hop, allowing Stansfield to score the tying run. Zeides then smashed her third home run of the year, a two-run shot, to put Rider on top, 4-2. Starting pitcher
Brooklyn Trujillo (Henderson, CO/Prairie View) did the rest, working out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth and allowing just one base runner in the seventh.
QUOTES & NOTES
"We made adjustments and had a better offensive day today. However, our nemesis of timely hitting and scoring with runners on base continues to haunt us. Coming back to take game two was an improvement for us and hopefully we can use it to build some momentum." - Rider Head Coach
Davon Ortega
- Jones took the Game 1 loss, allowing three earned runs on six hits and two walks in 6.2 innings pitched. She struck out one.
- Trujillo pitched all seven innings in Game 2, earning the win. She allowed just two runs, one earned, on seven hits without walking a batter. 4.1 innings of relief, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits and two walks, while striking out one.
-
Emily Oltman (Collegeville, PA/Perkiomen Valley) retired the only batter she faced in relief in Game 1.
- The Broncs return to action Saturday, when they travel to Quinnipiac. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Rider finished with 19 hits on the day and every Bronc who registered a plate appearance had at least one hit.
- Stansfield had a team-best four hits, including a double, and scored twice.
- Zeides also scored twice and had three hits, including what proved to be the game-winning two-run home run. The round tripper tied her with
Melanie Wilkinson (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) for the team lead, while she also now has a team-leading 13 RBI's.
- Swank, Bram and Marigliano had two hits each. The home run was Swank's second of the year.
-
Shelby Miller (Roseville, CA/Whitney) walked a team-high two times.
