Sophomore centerfielder
Jessica Zelaya
Devils Down Scarlet Raiders
Rutgers-Newark Softball
4/2/2009 7:39:25 PM
MADISON, NJ - Despite a four-for-six outing by sophomore centerfielder
Jessica Zelaya, Rutgers-Newark fell to 1-17 on the season following a pair of losses to FDU-Florham. The Scarlet Raiders dropped the first game of the doubleheader 8-2 before falling to the Devils 11-3 in six innings.
NCAA Box Score and Play-By-Play
FDU-Florham 8, R-N 2
FDU-Florham 11, R-N 3 (6 Innings)
Zelaya helped spark the Scarlet Raiders’ attack in the first game of the twinbill, going two-for-three in the leadoff spot, while fellow sophomore Shannon Davis finished one-for-two with an RBI and a run scored.
Freshman shortstop Tina Aita drove in the other Rutgers-Newark run during a one-for-three showing, while freshman Kat Renteria and juniors Sam Weer and Courtney Breauxsaus each went one-for-three. Junior transfer Amber Affholter rounded out the Rutgers-Newark offense going one-for-two with a walk and a run scored.
Down 6-0 entering the top of the third, Affholter laced a leadoff double down the line before moving to third on a Zelaya sacrifice bunt. Following a walk to sophomore second baseman Emily Ibarra, Davis pushed the Scarlet Raiders’ first run across the plate with a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
Davis would score Rutgers-Newark’s second and final run in the sixth inning on Aita’s one out single to right field.
Freshman Tina Banta earned the win for the Devils, allowing five hits over five innings while striking out two. Fellow freshman Ronica Sorice led FDU-Florham offensively, going four-for-four with three RBIs and three runs scored, while juniors Amy Beideman and Christine Heyl combined for four hits, two RBIs and a run scored. Fellow junior Meghan Zaccardi went three-for-four with three runs scored, while freshman Kristin Ippolito finished one-for-three with two RBIs.
Zelaya followed up an impressive game one with an equally impressive showing in the night cap, pacing the Rutgers-Newark offense while going two-for-three with three RBIs.
After a four run bottom of the second by the surging Devils, Zelaya blasted a three run home run, her first of the season, in the top half of the third, driving in Weer and Affholter in the process to pull the Scarlet Raiders to within one.
But FDU-Florham would respond in the bottom half of the stanza, scoring four runs of their own to push the Devils’ advantage to five.
After a leadoff walk to Beideman and a Heyl single put runners on first and second with no out, senior first baseman Christina Fabian singled down the left field line to drive in the Devils’ first run of the inning.
Affholter would retire the next two FDU-Florham batters, but junior Lara Hirshenson tripled down the right field line driving in two more Devils’ runs. Hirshenson would later score on a wild pitch to cap off the FDU-Florham rally.
Freshman Megan Golembiewski struck out five in six innings of work en route to the win, while Zaccardi led the FDU-Florham offense going three-for-four with six RBIs and a run scored. Fabian finished four-for-four with two RBIs and two runs scored, while Hirshenson went two-for-three with two RBIs and three runs scored.
Rutgers-Newark will travel to The College of New Jersey on Saturday, April 4 and Montclair State on Tuesday, April 7 for a pair of New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheaders before returning to home to face the College of St. Elizabeth on Thursday, April 9.