Mahwah, NJ:  The Ramapo College softball team won their first game of the 2021 season in a doubleheader split with visiting Rutgers-Camden University. The Scarlet Raptors (3-3, 3-1 NJAC) took game one, 6-0 while the Roadrunners (1-5, 1-3 NJAC) game back with a walk-off win in game two, 5-4.

Scarlet Raptor starting pitcher Sarah Byrnes surrendered just five hits and struck out ten in game one as they shut out the Roadrunners, 6-0. Rutgers-Camden scored one run in the first, two in the fifth and three in the seventh. In the first inning, Nina Arroyo hit a double to left-center before she crossed home plate on a hard-hit single from Marissa Beeebe for the early 1-0 lead. Neither team would score until the fifth when the Scarlet Raptors added two runs on an Arroyo two-RBI single. Olivia Bull and Cate Petrucelli each scored on the play for a 3-0 lead. Rutgers-Camden added three runs in the seventh to push the score to 6-0.
 
Byrnes worked a complete game for the Scarlet Raptors with ten strikeouts, three walks while she surrendered just five hits.
 
Mahogany Wheeler struck out three, walked none and scattered eight hits on the mound for Ramapo. She surrendered six runs, three earned in the complete game.
 
In game two, Rutgers-Camden put up four runs in the top of the first inning. Ramapo starting pitcher Megan Giesecke and the defense held the Scarlet Raptors offense in check the remainder of the game which allowed for a Ramapo walk-off in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Down 4-0 heading into the bottom of the third, Ramapo put up three runs to come within one. Kasie McNichol worked a lead-off walk before moving to second on a sac bunt from Jaclyn Monaco. With two outs, Anna Messina singled to put runners on the corners before Krista Verrino laced a single inside the third base bag to push home McNichol with Ramapo's first run of the game. Carli Egan then took the first pitch she saw and laced a double to the left-centerfield gap, platting both Messina and Verrino, 3-4.
 
Ramapo tied the game in the fifth when Messina led off with a double before Wheeler cracked a two-out double of her own allowing Messina to score, 4-4. Giesecke and the Ramapo defense sent the Scarlet Raptors down in order in the sixth and seventh innings setting up a comeback for the Roadrunners. Avery Bartolomeo led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single to left field before she moved to second on a sac bunt from Messina. Verrino made the second out of the inning on a hard-hit ball back to Byrnes in the circle, who threw to first for the second out before Egan stepped up to the plate. Egan hit a ball into the left-center field gap allowing Bartolomeo to score from second base for the game-winning run, 5-4.
 
Giesecke struck out eight, walked four and surrendered just five hits in the complete game. The four runs that crossed the plate for Rutgers-Camden in the first inning were all unearned.
 
Ramapo was led by Egan in game two as she recorded a 2-4 performance at the plate, both doubles including three RBI. Messina finished 2-3 with two runs scored while Wheeler finished 2-3 with one RBI. Verrino, Bartolomeo, Thu Deo and Monaco each collected one hit for Ramapo.
 
Byrnes took the loss in the circle for Rutgers-Camden in game two. She struck out two, walked one and let up ten hits in 6.2 innings of work.
 
The Roadrunners return to action on Saturday, April 10th when they host William Paterson University in a NJAC doubleheader beginning at 1pm.