HAMDEN, CT – The Rider University softball team split a pair of one-run decisions at Quinnipiac Saturday, falling in Game 1, 3-2, before taking a 2-1 win in Game 2. With the split, the Broncs move to 23-13 (7-3 MAAC), while the Bobcats are now 9-21 (3-7 MAAC).
In Game 1, the Broncs took leads of 1-0 and 2-1, before falling, 3-2. The Broncs struck first on
Laneya Wright's (Tucson, AZ/Marana) RBI single up the middle to score
Lani Moreno (Claremont, CA/Claremont) in the top of the second. After Quinnipiac knotted the score in the third, the Broncs regained the lead in the top of the fourth on
Brianna Koonce's (Warminster, PA/William Tennent) squeeze bunt to score Moreno. But the Bobcats scored twice in the bottom of the frame on a wild pitch and an RBI single to take a 3-2 lead. Neither team would score again and the Bobcats closed out the one-run victory.
In Game 2, the Broncs again took the early lead on
Gianna Epps' (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) fielder's choice to score
Kaitlin Vazquez (Howell, NJ/Donovan Catholic [Brookdale C.C.]), who led off the inning with a single. Quinnipiac would even the score in the bottom of the sixth on Kayla Thomas' solo shot. In the top of the seventh, Moreno led off with a double to center before
Elena Gonzalez (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) followed suit with a double to right to score what proved to be the game-winning run. Starting pitcher
Jessie Niegocki (Marana, AZ/Mountainview) recorded her ninth and 10
th strikeouts of the game and pitched around a two-out error to close out the victory.
Notes
- Rider's 23 wins are the most for the program since 2006, when the Broncs won 24 games. The program record is 35 wins (1994, 2004).
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Anna-Marie Groskritz (Granby, CT/Granby Memorial) started Game 1 and took a no decision. She allowed three-plus innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits, a walk and two hit-by-pitches. She struck out two.
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Brooklyn Trujillo-Quintana (Henderson, CO/Prairie View) took the loss, allowing one earned run on two hits and two walks in 3.0 innings of relief. She struck out two.
- Niegocki moved to 4-2 on the season with the Game 2 win in the circle. The Thomas home run was the only blemish on her record for the day, as she scattered just three hits and two walks over 7.0 innings pitched, striking out a career-high 10 batters. Her previous season and career high was nine, accomplished twice this year (Mar. 14 at East Carolina, Mar. 20 vs. UMass Lowell).
- Quinnipiac now leads the all-time series with the Broncs, 15-7. The Broncs won the last three games of last season's four-game set and have now won four of the last five against the Bobcats.
- Rider is now 7-7 on the road this season.
- The Broncs return to action tomorrow, when they travel to Lehigh for a non-conference doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
Broncs by the Numbers
- Vazquez, Moreno and Wright led the Broncs with two hits apiece.
- Moreno doubled and scored three of Rider's four runs on the day. She also reached on a hit-by-pitch.
- Vazquez scored the other Rider run.
- Wright, Gonzalez and Epps had one RBI each.
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Amanda Cooper (Huntsville, TX/Huntsville) and Gonzalez had one hit each, with Gonzalez's being the decisive go-ahead double in Game 2.
- Koonce also reached on a hit-by-pitch.
- Rider's catchers, Gonzalez and Vazquez, each threw out an attempted base stealer to hold the Bobcats without a stolen base on the day (0-2). For the season, the Broncs have thrown out 15 attempted base stealers in 45 attempts, while allowing just two successful stolen-base attempts in nine attempts in MAAC play.
