Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CAMDEN, N.J. – The nationally-ranked Rowan University softball team banged out 27 hits and scored 28 runs as it swept a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader from Rutgers University-Camden here Tuesday.
 
The Profs won the opener, 18-1, in five innings and took the nightcap, 10-4, to raise their record to 28-2. Rowan, ranked No. 5 in the latest NFCA Division III poll, improves to 10-2 in the conference.
 
Rutgers-Camden falls to 16-8-1 overall and 7-5 in the NJAC, losing two straight games for the first time all season.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to play Thursday with a 3:30 p.m. non-conference doubleheader at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Rowan hosts New Jersey City University in a 1 p.m. NJAC doubleheader Saturday.
 After scoring one run in the first inning, the Profs broke the game open with seven unearned runs in the second inning on their way to the win. With two outs, Rowan loaded the bases on a pair of singles sandwiched around a walk before a dropped pop up opened the floodgates with two runs. Freshman designated player Morgan Smith (Millsboro, DE/Sussex Central) and senior center fielder Shannon Costello (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) both collected two-run doubles among Rowan's six hits in the inning.
 
Rowan added six more runs in the third inning, aided by five walks and three hits, including a two-run double by freshman right fielder Sierra Machinski (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West).
 
Sophomore first baseman Damariz Mercado (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) went 2-for-4 with three runs and four RBIs for the Profs, including a three-run home run in the fourth inning. It was one of three homers by the Profs in the game, including shots by Machinski and junior shortstop Shilah Snead (Malaga, NJ/Delsea Regional). Snead led off the game with a solo homer.
 
Smith and Machinski both added three RBIs to help back winning pitcher Beth Ann Hyland (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick), who split duties with freshman Rachel Gagliardo (Plainsboro, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro South) to combine on a five-hitter. Hyland worked the first three innings of the five-inning game to raise her mark to 12-1.
 Rowan scored four times in the first inning, aided by a three-run double from Costello, on its way to the victory. Costello and Smith both had three of the Profs' 14 hits in the game, while Costello and Machinski knocked in three runs apiece.
 
Facing the end of the game with the eight-run rule, the Raptors extended the contest with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it a 10-4 game. The frame included two walks, an error and a RBI single by sophomore right fielder Jalene Garcia (Vineland, NJ/Vineland) against Rowan freshman reliever Ashley Lesch (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls). The Raptors' rally was snuffed out when junior starting pitcher Allison Nolan (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) re-entered the game and worked out of a no-out, two-on jam with a pop up and two strikeouts. Nolan (9-0) worked seven innings over her two stints, allowing six hits, one walk and one unearned run. She struck out three.
 
Junior Brittany Scott (Buena, NJ/Buena Regional) took the loss in both games for the Scarlet Raptors as her record fell to 13-7.
 
Garcia went 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI in the game for Rutgers-Camden. She was 4-for-5 with two runs and one RBI in the doubleheader.