HAMDEN, CT – Four Broncs contributed two hits apiece, all in Game 2, but the Rider University softball team was swept at Quinnipiac, 4-1 and 6-4, on Saturday afternoon. With the losses, the Broncs fall to 8-22, 2-3 MAAC), while the Bobcats improve to 8-16 (3-4 MAAC).

Four unearned runs in the bottom of the third were the difference in Game 1. With two on and two out, an error allowed the first run to score on what would've been the third out. A second run scored on a double steal and a two-run single made it 4-0 Bobcats after three. Meanwhile, four Broncs reached in the first six innings on a walk and three errors. With one out in the seventh, Kiersten Buchanan (Holly Springs, NC/Holly Springs) broke up Quinnipiac pitcher Sydney Horan's no-hit bid with a single and scored a batter later, when Kendall Reda-Fehsal (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury) hit an RBI double. But that was all the Broncs could scrape together, falling by a final score of 4-1.

Rider struck for two unearned runs in the top of the first against Horan in Game 2, as the first two batters reached on errors, before Kristyn Gardner (Perryville, MD/Perryville) hit a two-run double. The Bobcats got one back in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff walk and a one-out double. The Broncs got the run back in the top of the second, with Olivia Burroughs (Escondido, CA/San Pasqual) leading off with a single and scoring on Fallyn Stoeckel's (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) two-out RBI double to make it 3-1 Rider.

But Quinnipiac but the deficit in half with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the third and took the lead for good with a four-run bottom of the fourth. A walk, an error and an RBI single tied the game at 3-3. After a bunt single, Quinnipiac took the lead for good on a run-scoring error and tacked on two more on a two-run single. From there, the Broncs' lone run came on a solo shot from Abby Cruz (Corona, CA/Santiago) in the top of the seventh.    

Notes
- Anna-Marie Groskritz (Granby, CT/Granby Memorial) pitched Game 1, allowing four runs, all unearned as a result of her own fielding error, on six hits and three walks over 6.0 innings pitched. She struck out five.
- Kathryn Schmierer (Racine, WI/Racine Lutheran) went the distance in Game 2, allowing six runs, three earned, on eight hits and three walks, striking out one.

Broncs by the Numbers
- Burroughs, Buchanan, Cruz and Gardner had two hits apiece for the Broncs, with Burroughs, Buchanan and Cruz also scoring a run apiece.
- Cruz hit her third home run of the second, second-most on the team behind Gardner's four.
- Gardner doubled twice and drove in two.
- One of Buchanan's two hits was a double.
- Reda-Fehsal had an RBI double.
- Keegan St. Cyr (Hopkinton, NH/Hopkinton) singled and scored a run.
- Stoeckel hit an RBI double and scored a run. She also reached on a walk.

Up Next
The Broncs return to action Tuesday, when they play host to Iona for a league doubleheader. First pitch of Game 1 from Herb and Joan Young Field is scheduled for 2 p.m.