Softball Takes One of Two at Rutgers

GAME ONE BOX SCORE

GAME TWO BOX SCORE

PISCATAWAY, N.J. The Seton Hall softball team split a doubleheader with Rutgers on Wednesday, with the Scarlet Knights winning the first game, 5-0, and the Pirates taking game two, 9-4.   SHU will host Pittsburgh on Saturday and Syracuse on Sunday, both twin-bills.

After a scoreless first inning in game one, Rutgers took a 3-0 lead in the second, led by Mallory Miller’s lead off home run. Kim Hodges and Kaitlyn Valiante both singled up the middle to put two on for RU. Shantai Dixon then sacrificed to move the runners, and Amanda Heller was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Brittany Loisel. The sophomore plated Hodges and, later in the frame with two outs, Kristin Madoch singled, scoring Heller.

On the first pitch of the third inning, Miller again led off with a hit, this time a single to right centerfield. Miller advanced to third on a single from Valiante and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Dixon as the Scarlet Knights owned a 4-0 lead.

Rutgers’ final run came during the fourth inning. With two outs, Sarah Kalka singled through the right side and scored as Miller doubled to centerfield for the 5-0 lead en route to the game one shutout.

Kealan Waldron (Oak Park, Ill.) was 2-for-4 for SHU, while Laura Baranek (Orefield, Pa.) was 2-for-3.  The Hall had ten hits as a team but could not plate a runner.

In game two, the Pirates came out firing, taking an early 1-0 lead on a solo home run from Jenna Best (Medford, N.J.). Kalka, however, responded with a shot over the right field fence to knot the game, 1-1.

After two scoreless innings, the Scarlet Knights took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Miller collected her third lead-off hit of the day with a single to left field. After Pirates’ pitcher Kim Schweitzer (Syracuse, N.Y.) recorded two strikeouts, Dixon reached on fielder’s choice to put two on. Miller came around from second to give RU the one-run lead when Heller singled through the left side.

A three-run sixth inning put Seton Hall ahead, 4-2 heading into the top of the sixth. Best followed a Waldron double with a two-bagger of her own to tie the game before Shannon Pease (Binghamton, N.Y.) blasted a two-run homer. With two outs and one on in the bottom half of the inning, Kalka jacked her second home run of the game, making the score, 4-4, with one inning remaining.

The Pirates used a five-run burst in the seventh inning, including an RBI single from Best and a three-run home run from Baranek, to take a 9-4 lead. Seton Hall retired RU’s first three batters in the final frame to move to 11-27 on the season, including a 7-7 mark in the BIG EAST.

Schweitzer (9-16) picked up the complete game victory,  allowing four earned runs on six hits while striking out three.

Scoreboard

Seton Hall University Athletics

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