KENNESAW, GA – Kendall Reda-Fehsal (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) had three hits, including a home run, and drove in three, but the Rider University softball team dropped a pair of one-run games to close out play at the Kennesaw State Tournament Sunday. The Broncs fell to Saint Louis, 5-4, in eight innings, before wrapping up play with a 3-2 loss to the host Owls in five innings. With the losses, the Broncs fall to 2-8 on the season.

The Broncs made the Billikens pay for a first-inning error, plating three in the top of the first. Keegan St. Cyr (Hopkinton, NH/Hopkinton) led off with a bunt single and took second on a sacrifice bunt. After Saint Louis recorded the second out, St. Cyr scored on an error to prolong the inning and Kendall Reda-Fehsal (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) made it hurt with a two-run home run, staking Rider to a 3-0 lead after a half inning. The Billikens got two runs back in the bottom of the first on a walk and a home run and tied the game at 3-3 in the second on a two-out RBI double.

Saint Louis executed a double steal to take a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the third, before the Broncs tied the game in the fifth. Shea Johnson (Carlsbad, CA/Cathedral Catholic) led off the frame with a single, took second on a groundout and scored on Fallyn Stoeckel's RBI single to knot the game at 4-4. Saint Louis loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Kathryn Schmierer (Racine, WI/Racine Lutheran) worked out of the jam with a pair of popouts to the catcher.

With the international tiebreaker in effect, Olivia Burroughs (Escondido, CA/San Pasqual) was hit by a pitch and the Broncs sacrificed the runners to second and third with one out. But a strikeout and a groundout left the game at 4-4 heading to the bottom of the eighth, when Saint Louis ended it with a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single.

St. Cyr again set the table to begin the second game against Kennesaw State, getting hit by a pitch and stealing second. With two out, Maddie Luedtke (Gibbstown, NJ/Gloucester County Institute of Technology) delivered an RBI double and Reda-Fehsal followed with an RBI single to put Rider on top, 2-0. A solo home run in the second and a run-scoring fielder's choice and two-out RBI double gave the Owls a 3-2 lead after three innings.

The Broncs threatened in the top of the fifth. Stoeckel and Burroughs reached on a single and a walk, respectively, and runners moved to second and third on a Luedtke groundout. But the Owls cut down a runner at the plate on a ground ball to first and ended the inning with a popout. The game was cut short due to Rider's quickly-approaching flight departure.

Notes
- Kathryn Schmierer (Racine, WI/Racine Lutheran) pitched 4.1 innings of relief without allowing an earned run in the tough-luck loss to Saint Louis. She scattered four hits and two walks. The only run to score was the international tie-breaker runner that was placed on second to start the eighth, which goes as an unearned tally.  
- Stoeckel got the start in the circle vs. the Billikens, allowing four earned runs on five hits and a walk over 3.0 innings pitched. She struck out one.
- Anna-Marie Groskritz (Granby, CT/Granby Memorial) pitched all 4.0 innings of the Kennesaw State game. She allowed three earned runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out three.

Broncs by the Numbers
- Reda-Fehsal led the Broncs' offensive with a 3-for-7 effort with a home run and three RBI's.
- Kristyn Gardner (Perryville, MD/Perryville) added a 2-for-4 effort, while Stoeckel also had two hits, going 2-for-6 with an RBI.
- Shelby Dyer (Clarksboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) had a single and a walk in two plate appearances.
- Johnson singled, walked twice and scored a run.
- St. Cyr had a single, reached on a walk and a hit-by-pitch, and scored twice. She also stole a base. The base hit was the first of her collegiate career.
- Luedtke added a double, two RBI's and two runs scored.
- Burroughs reached twice on a walk and a hit-by-pitch.  

Up Next
The Broncs return to action Tuesday, when they travel to Central Connecticut for a doubleheader. First pitch from New Britain, CT, is scheduled for 1 p.m.