Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MECHANICSBURG, Penn. (March 31, 2016) – After waiting a week to play its next games, the Rutgers University-Camden softball team had the tough task of returning to action here Thursday against nationally-ranked Messiah College.
 
The Falcons, ranked No. 22 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III poll, blanked the Raptors, 8-0, on a one-hitter in the five-inning first game before winning the nightcap, 7-3. Messiah improves to 17-2 overall and stretches its winning streak to 10 games. Rutgers-Camden, which hadn't played since March 24 due to an opponent cancelling a scheduled doubleheader, falls to 9-7.
 
After playing their first 16 games on the road and having their scheduled home opener cancelled on Tuesday, the Scarlet Raptors finally will play a contest at Rutgers-Camden Community Park on Saturday. They host Rutgers-Newark at 1 p.m. in the New Jersey Athletic Conference-opening doubleheader for both teams.
  
Messiah scored all the runs it needed in the third inning on a two-run double by senior catcher Becky Notte (Oxford, PA/Caravel Academy). That was more than enough to support the one-hit pitching of senior Courtney Allen (Lancaster, PA/Conestoga Valley). Allen walked one and struck out four while raising her record to 9-0. The only blemishes on her pitching line came with one out in the fourth inning when she walked sophomore second baseman Taylor Nichols (Barrington, NJ/Haddon Heights) and senior pitcher Brittany Scott (Buena, NJ/Buena Regional) followed with a single up the middle.
 
Messiah put the game away with six unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, aided by five hits, a walk and an error. Junior shortstop Amanda Jones (York, PA/Dallastown Area) had a two-run single in the frame.
 
Scott (6-4) worked four innings, allowing 11 hits and eight runs – only two of them earned – while walking three and striking out three.
  
In the second game, Raptor junior pitcher Abby Merryman (Washington Township, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) hurled perfect ball for 2.2 innings before the Falcons struck in the bottom of the third. Sophomore rightfielder Shannon Denny (Raleigh, NC/Needham B. Broughton) reached on a two-out single to third base. She scored moments later when sophomore pitcher Carrie Fix (York, PA/York Catholic) tripled to right field. Senior third baseman Brooke Pompeo (Williamsport, PA/Williamsport) followed with an RBI single.
 
The Falcons added two more runs in the fifth when Fix tripled home a run and scored on a passed ball, but Rutgers-Camden cut the 4-0 deficit in half in the top of the sixth. Nichols reached on an infield single and scored on Scott's second home run of the season, a shot down the left field line that extended her hitting streak to 16 games.
 
Messiah, however, bounced back with three runs on three hits, a walk, and error and a hit batsman in the bottom of the sixth. Rutgers-Camden tacked on a seventh-inning run when junior shortstop Jalene Garcia (Vineland, NJ/Vineland) singled, stole second and advanced to third on a single by freshman leftfielder Kacie Pisani (Barrington, NJ/Haddon Heights). Garcia scored on a ground out by Nichols.
 
Fix (6-1) worked five innings, allowing five hits, one walk and two earned runs, while fanning two. Merryman (3-3) hurled 5.1 innings for the Scarlet Raptors, allowing eight hits and seven runs, six earned. She didn't walk a batter and struck out seven.
 
Nichols went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI to lead the Raptor offense.
 
Fix, Denny and Jones each had two hits for Messiah. Fix also collected three RBIs and scored twice.