Wayne, NJ: The Ramapo College softball team split a pair of NJAC games on the road at William Paterson University this afternoon. The Pioneers (13-16, 3-9 NJAC) took game one 5-4 while the Roadrunners (25-8, 9-3 NJAC) bounced back in game two with a 4-3 win. The Roadrunners reach the 25-win mark for the 23rd time in program history.
Game #1: WPU 5, Ramapo 4
Late inning heroics by the Pioneers lifted the team to a 5-4 comeback win over the Roadrunners. Hailey Backo drove in two RBI in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at four while an RBI single from Lilah Guthy plated the game-winning run, 5-4. Ramapo went up 1-0 in the top of the first inning as
Paley Sullivan drove in
Hannah Hensler with an RBI double. WPU scored two unearned runs in the bottom half of the inning for a 2-1 lead.
Kori Gargiulo laced a single down the left field line which allowed two Roadrunners to score in the second to retake the lead, 3-2. Sullivan plated Clay'le Correa-Vanness in the inning with an RBI single of her own, 4-2. A single and a walk from WPU in the seventh led to the big double from Backo which set up the game-winning hit from Guthy.
Brooke Knight (12-3) took the loss in the circle in relief as she struck out two, walked two and surrendered five hits and three runs in the final 2.2 innings of work.
Gabby Morgan started for Ramapo as she pitched four complete innings, scattering four hits while letting up two unearned runs.
Game #2: Ramapo 4, WPU 3
WPU scored a run in the bottom of the first before Ramapo tied the game in the top of the second.
Paley Sullivan singled through the infield to lead off the inning before
Emily Ehrmann drove a single to right field. The throw from the WPU outfield was misplayed allowing Sullivan to score, 1-1. In the fourth inning, Ehrmann and
Sonali Rodriguez each singled before
Amanda Esposito moved them up one base with a sac bunt. Following the second out of the inning,
Lia Milsom drove in both runners with a hard-hit single through the left side of the infield, 3-1. Milsom went to second on the play before moving to third on Alex Hasting's infield single and later scoring on a wild pitch, 4-1. In the bottom of the fourth, the Pioneers plated two runs on a double from Brandi Shortway to come within one of tying the game, 4-3.
Knight entered the game for the Roadrunners in the fifth and fired three scoreless innings to earn her first save of the season.
Mikayla McJilton (5-2) earned the win in the circle in four innings of work with one strikeout, three walks, six hits and three earned runs. Knight struck out two, walked one and let up just one hit in the final three innings. Hastings, Ehrmann, Rodriguez and Milsom all collected two hits each for the Roadrunners while Milsom plated two big RBI to lead the team.
Ramapo returns to action on Saturday, April 18 when they travel to Stockton University for a pair of NJAC games starting at 1pm.
