LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University softball team swept Niagara in a Friday doubleheader to move to 5-1 in league play for the first time in the program's 24 years in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Broncs took Game 1, 7-1, before battling back from down, 4-1, to take Game 2, 5-4.

Rider jumped on the Purple Eagles for one run in the first inning of Game 1 and five more in the second. Lani Moreno (Claremont, CA/Claremont) drove in the Broncs' first run with a single through the left side in the first inning before adding a two-run single in the second. Grace Stansfield (Philadelphia, PA/William Penn Charter), Elena Gonzalez (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) and Brianna Koonce (Warminster, PA/William Tennent) also added RBI singles.

Niagara got its lone run of the game as Maggie Vesneske singled, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a pair of wild pitches. Rider tacked on a run on a pair of errors and Moreno's RBI fielder's choice to make it 7-1. The support was more than enough for Broncs' starter Debra Jones (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown), who allowed just one earned run on six hits and four walks in 6.0 innings pitched. She struck out eight.

In Game 2, both teams scored on RBI singles in the first, with Gonzalez providing the RBI for the Broncs, driving in Alyssa Ansara (Waterville, OH/Anthony Wayne), who'd singled earlier in the frame. Niagara would take a 4-1 lead with three runs on four hits and an error in the top of the third.

Rider slashed the deficit to 4-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Gonzalez led off with a base hit and scored on Moreno's double. The Broncs' right fielder would advance to third on a wild pitch and score on Caitlyn Danovich's (Simi Valley, CA/Agoura) groundout to cut the Niagara lead to one. The Broncs tied the game on Stansfield's two-out RBI double in the bottom of the fifth to score Jessie Niegocki (Marana, AZ/Mountain View), who'd entered to pitch in the top of the inning, singled to open the bottom of the frame, and became the Rider pitcher of record on Stansfield's double.

Following a scoreless sixth, Gianna Epps (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) led off the bottom of the seventh with a single down the right-field line and moved to second on Niegocki's sacrifice bunt. Kelsey Marigliano (Seaford, NY/Plainledge) singled to put runners on the corners with one out, before Niagara got a shallow fly ball for the second out. But Stansfield again was clutch with the two-out RBI, lining a single up the middle to score Epps with the winning run.   

Quotes & Notes
"I'm happy to walk away with the two wins today, but we showed that we have a lot of work to do. We need to tighten up our defense and our pitching staff needs to work ahead in counts if we want to get better tomorrow. I'm still loving the fight this team is showing together – we know that we have what it takes to get the job done when our backs are against the wall and that momentum will help as the season goes on." – Rider Head Coach Davon Ortega

- The last time Rider won as many as five-straight games was the 2006 season, when the Broncs won eight-straight with doubleheader sweeps of Iona (April 27), Saint Peter's (April 29), Siena (April 30) and Fairfield (May 2).
- Rider is 5-1 in MAAC play for the first time in the program's 24 years in the league. The Broncs started 4-2 on four occasions (2003, 2004, 2010, 2012).
- Stansfield now has two walk-off RBI hits in the Broncs' last three games.
- Jones earned her second win of the season in Game 1, allowing one earned run on six hits and four walks, while striking out eight.
- Anna-Marie Groskritz (Granby, CT/Granby Memorial) got the final three outs of Game 1, scattering a hit and a walk in a scoreless frame.
- Niegocki got the win in her Rider pitching debut, tossing 3.0 scoreless innings of relief, limiting the Purple Eagles to two hits and two walks.
- Brooklyn Trujillo-Quintana (Henderson, CO/Prairie View) got the Game 2 start and allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits in 2.1 innings pitched. She struck out two.
- Jackie Cal (Castle Rock, CO/Regis Jesuit) pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief in Game 2, allowing three hits. She struck out one.
- The Broncs close out the series with Niagara Saturday, when the two teams play another doubleheader. First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for noon.   
 
Broncs by the Numbers
- Gonzalez, Moreno and Stansfield had four hits each to pace the Rider offense.
- Moreno drove in a team-best five runs, while Stansfield had three RBI's and Gonzalez drove in two.
- Gonzalez scored a team-best three runs, while Niegocki, Marigliano and Ansara scored twice each.
- Stansfield had two of Rider's three extra-base hits on the day with a pair of doubles. Moreno also doubled.
- Freshman catcher Kaitlin Vazquez (Howell, NJ/Donovan Catholic) was terrific defensively behind the plate, picking off a pair of baserunners on the day, one from third and another from first.