March 25, 2007 - Rider 6 Lafayette 5 (9 innings) / Monmouth 7 Rider 2
March 25, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Softball - Rider Invitational
Rider University 6, Lafayette College 5 (9 innings)
Monmouth University 7, Rider University 2
LAWRENCEVILLE—The Broncs defeated the Leopards of Lafayette on the final day of the Rider Invitational, splitting two games on Sunday. “We changed pretty much everything we are doing,” said head coach Tricia Carroll. “We did more live play during warm-ups, we changed the defense and with that, we seemed to have better intensity and just seemed better prepared to play.”
Rider went 1-2 overall for the weekend after falling to Villanova on Saturday.
In the first game against Lafayette, junior Tiffany Day-Neutill (Agoura Hills, Calif./Oaks Christian) went four for five with a double and freshman Derrin Minunni (Cohoes, N.Y./Shaker) had the winning RBI single in the ninth.
“Tiffany is on fire,” said Carroll. “She is seeing the ball very well and driving it and she is also a risk to bunt the ball.”
With the score tied at five, freshman Megan Kozlowski (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock-North) started the inning on second base under the international tie-breaker rules and advanced to third on a bunt single by Day-Neutill, setting up the winning single to left field by Minunni with nobody out.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play where it was pitched,” said Minunni who is majoring in Business Education at Rider. “Coach Carroll has been telling us to stop trying to do too much and just play the way we know how and I was able to make good contact and get the run in.”
“What will get over looked is the great defensive play in the top of the ninth,” said Carroll. “Lafayette bunted their runner from second and Katy [Mills] made a great play on it, tossing the ball to Ashley [Boulden] for the first out of the inning at third base. With the next batter hitting a single, that play was huge because the run would have scored.”
Junior Jessica Holland (Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) picked up the win in relief for Rider (5-13), going two innings, allowing only one hit.
“The come back was exciting,” Minunni added. “We kept up the intensity and pulled together and played as a team. We seemed to have more energy and we are learning to pick each other up.”
Sophomore Lauren Brunner (Chino, Calif./Chino) started, going the first seven innings for Rider, scattering eight hits while recording two strikeouts.
With the score tied at two, Rider scored three times in the sixth inning on four straight hits, keyed by an RBI double from senior Ashley Boulden (Brooklawn, N.J./Gloucester) and an RBI single from Kozlowski. Boulden had two hits and two runs scored in the game with junior Mandi Sekly (Canyon Country, Calif./Canyon) adding three hits.
Lafayette battled back with three in the seventh as Rider committed an error and walked in two runs tying the score at five.
“Having Lafayette come back and tie in the last inning and then winning is a good learning experience only if you win,” said Carroll. “I would have much rather have won 5-2 and saved the ‘learning experience’ for another time. Scoring three in the sixth to take the lead was enough of a learning experience for one game. With that said, we seemed to recover quicker emotionally from our mistakes and the key to how we are playing is how we are reacting to adversity. Things are going to happen during a game and I told the team that you need to have a short memory and make the next play and not let one error or mistake become three or four.”
In the second game, with the scored tied at one, the Hawks scored two in the second and three in the third, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. Day-Neutill continued her hot hitting with two more hits with sophomore Katy Mills (Seattle, Wash./Mount Rainier) and junior Aimee Schiller (Moreno Valley, Calif./Moreno Valley) each adding a double. Day-Neutill and Kozlowski each scored for the Broncs.
“Monmouth has a good hitting team,” Carroll added. “But we gave them too many opportunities with the mistakes that we made. They took advantage of every error we made, both mentally and physically.”
Villanova went 2-1 and was declared the tournament champion with Monmouth and Lafayette each going 2-2 for the weekend.
Rider travels to Queens, New York to face the Red Storm from St. John’s in a doubleheader on March 28.
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