POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The Rider University softball team split a doubleheader Saturday afternoon against the team that entered the weekend atop the MAAC standings at Marist, falling in game one, 6-2, before bouncing back to win game two, 3-0. The Broncs moved to 19-17 on the season and 10-7 in MAAC play, while the Red Foxes are now 20-19 overall and 14-3 in league games.
 
The Red Foxes jumped out to an early lead in game one, scoring one in the first and two in the second. Aspen Wheeler (Lampasas, TX/Lampasas) led off the top of the third with a double, then two batters later came in to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Maddie Luedtke (Gibbstown, NJ/Gloucester County Institute of Technology).
 
In the fourth, Kendall Reda-Fehsal (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury), Gabi Rodriguez (Chula Vista, CA/Olympian), Kiersten Buchanan (Holly Springs, NC/Holly Springs), and Sydney Savatt (Pittsburgh, PA/Avonworth) hit four-straight singles to make the score 3-2 and load the bases with no outs. Marist turned to the pen and Anna Sidlowski got out of the jam for the Red Foxes, sandwiching a pair of strike outs around a ground ball at third that Marist was able to get the out at home on.
 
The Red Foxes then carried the momentum into the bottom of the inning, scoring twice and adding an insurance run in the fifth.
 
In game two, the bats were stifled on both sides in the first three innings. In the fourth, Abby Cruz (Corona, CA/Santiago) was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then Reda-Fehsal made Marist pay for the mistake, drilling a 1-1 pitch over the center field fence to give Rider a 2-0 lead. The score remained 2-0 into the sixth when Reda-Fehsal hit her second homer of the game, this time out to left, extending the lead to 3-0 and helping the Broncs secure the split.
 
Quotes & Notes
- Rodriguez started game one in the circle, throwing all six innings, allowing six runs, five earned, on nine hits, taking the loss.
- Fallyn Stoeckel (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) started game two in the circle, tossing all seven innings, allowing no runs on four hits to take the win. She struck out three.
- Reda-Fehsal's home runs give her seven on the season, and 19 in her career.
 
Broncs By The Numbers
- Reda-Fehsal and Wheeler each had three hits across the pair of games to lead the Broncs.
- Keegan St. Cyr (Hopkinton, NH/Hopkinton), Luedtke, Rodriguez, and Emma Morgan (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) each finished with two hits across the doubleheader.
- Stoeckel, Buchanan, and Savatt each finished with a hit in the two games.
 
Up Next
The Broncs are back in action Sunday for the rubber game at Marist, with first pitch scheduled for noon.