NEWARK, N.J. | The New Jersey City University (NJCU) softball team split a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) doubleheader with Rutgers University-Camden on Sunday afternoon. The Gothic Knights took game one 7-2 before falling 5-3 in game two.
Game 1: NJCU 7, Rutgers-Camden 2
NJCU (3-12, 1-0) used a strong offensive performance, tallying 10 hits and playing clean softball in the field to topple the Scarlet Raptors. Kiara Taylor (Berlin, Md./Stephen Decatur) paced the team, finishing 3-for-4 with a run scored, while Emma Hanlon (Highland, N.Y./Highland) scattered two hits with 3 RBI. In the circle, Danika Borza (Keyport, N.J./Keyport) pitched a complete game with five strikeouts.
Rutgers-Camden (5-6, 0-1) tallied eight hits but was held to two runs in the loss. Three different Scarlet Raptors secured two hits while Sammie Friel (3-3) tallied six strikeouts.
The pitchers won the first two frames as neither team could plate a run until the Gothic Knights posted five in the bottom of the third. Marisela Cardona (Avenel, N.J./Colonia) entered as a pinch runner and posted the first run of the game, scoring on a wild pitch. With the pillows still loaded, Hanlon hit a bases-clearing triple to the center field wall to push NJCU's lead to 4-0. Borza followed up and helped her own cause by hitting an RBI double to center.
Rutgers-Camden opened its scoring ledger in the fifth, using a single through the right side to do so by Zoie Mantzell. The Scarlet Raptors kept the momentum going and added another run in the sixth before NJCU posted a pair in the bottom of the frame, thanks to a 2 RBI single up the middle by Emma Grochowski (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin).
Game 2: Rutgers-Camden 5, NJCU 3
NJCU (3-13, 1-1) was led by Borza (3-for-4) at the plate, while she added two innings in the circle and tallied three strikeouts. Natalie Rosales (Union City, N.J./Jose Marti STEM Academy) finished 1-for-3 but drove in a team-high two runs in the loss. In the circle, Maggie Martin (Spring Lake Heights, N.J./Manasquan) (1-8) hurled five innings and had two strikeouts with three earned runs.
Rutgers-Camden (6-6, 1-1) was led by Madi Carr's three hits at the plate and Anna Milillo's (1-3) pitching efforts in the circle.
Milillo and Martin dueled for four innings as they continued to shut down the opposing offense. It wasn't until the top of the fifth that a run would cross the dish. Rutgers-Camden plated the first run of the game behind a Gianna Bauer single to right center to score Ava Iepson, who reached earlier after getting hit by a pitch.
NJCU responded by plating three runs in the bottom of the frame when a run was walked in and then followed by a 2 RBI single by Rosales down the third base line. Rutgers-Camden exploded for four runs in the top of the sixth to regain the lead to close out the game and split the opening NJAC doubleheader of the season.
Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return to action on Tuesday, March 31 when they head to Mahwah, NJ to take on Ramapo College.
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