Rider wins 3 of 4 in up-and-down week

By Lindsay Scarola

Rider softball participated in the Hail Southern Classic in Statesboro, Georgia, where on March 7, the Broncs faced  Maryland having a 9-0 loss in five innings and Georgia Southern for a 12-0 loss in five innings. 

On March 8, Rider matched against both colleges again, losing to the Terrapins 5-0 and losing to the Eagles 4-0. 

  On March 9, the Broncs shutout the Eagles 3-0 after the game was called as complete due to rain. 

A Tournament of Shutouts

In game one on March 7, sophomore infielder Kiersten Buchanan and junior outfielder Maddie Luedtke had the Broncs’ only two hits of the game against Maryland. 

The Terrapins bats started going against graduate pitcher Anna-Marie Groskritz. 

They scored single runs in the second and third, five in the fourth and two in the fifth. 

Rider had their last chance in the bottom of the fifth to score a single run to keep this game going. 

The Broncs could not do so, getting mercied 9-0 in five. 

Looking to bounce back in game two against Georgia Southern, Rider started the second inning threatening. 

Senior third/first baseman Olivia Burroughs walked following Luedtke hit a double to put runners on second and third with one away. 

A lineout and strikeout ended the inning. The Eagles put two runs in the second, three in the third, and seven in the fourth. 

Rider’s defense could not stop the bleeding as Georgia Southern mercied them 12-0, in five. 

On March 8, Rider was looking to redeem themselves from getting mercied twice in one day. 

Game one of the day was dropped to Maryland, Rider gave up an unearned run to score one run after a two-out error. 

This created a four-out inning. A three-run homer and solo shot followed the error adding five runs onto the board. 

Junior outfielder Fallyn Stoeckel had one of four hits for the Broncs in a 5-0 loss. 

Game two followed a similar pattern from game one minus the error. Georgia Southern had two two-run homers, one in the fourth and fifth accounting for the four runs tallied. 

The offense was quiet, while the Broncs were only able to get two hits in this 4-0 loss. 

March 9 marked the third game against Georgia Southern, Rider looking to avoid the sweep. 

Groskritz walked a runner and gave up a single to put runners on the corners with no outs but she got out of the jam with two strikeouts and a pop out. 

She pitched five scoreless innings to hold the Eagles. Meanwhile, the Broncs got on the board in the fourth on consecutive doubles from sophomore catchers Kendall Reda-Fehsal and Abby Cruz. 

The Broncs were able to add two more during the two-out rally in the fifth to give them a 3-0 shutout win. 

Clean Sweep in Philly

Groskritz was on the mound in game one holding UPenn to only two hits, striking out five batters and walking two. 

Rider’s defense was clean as it had no errors. With two fly outs and eight ground outs, it created less work for Groskritz and gave the Broncs the confidence they needed to get the offense going. 

In the top of the first, Cruz hit a double down the right field line and two runners scored to get Rider started. 

A rally occurred in the next inning, starting with Cruz once again. Cruz hit another double to score two. 

Burroughs followed with her own two-run RBI double and then scored after an error committed by the Quakers. 

Rider added one more in the top of the fifth before mercying UPenn 8-0. 

Game two began and once again Cruz got things started for the Broncs with an RBI single. 

Up 3-0 in the top of the third, Burroughs hit a solo shot to make it 4-0. UPenn responded in the bottom of the third with a two-run RBI double. 

Bats went quiet in the fourth, but the Broncs added one in the fifth. In the top of the sixth, two more runs were scored giving Rider a 7-2 lead. 

The Quakers were unable to score again, losing 7-2 and getting swept by the Broncs.