Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (March 4, 2017) – For the second day in a row, a sophomore transfer earned her first career pitching win at Rutgers University-Camden as the Scarlet Raptors split a pair of softball games here Saturday at the 2017 Beach Blast, hosted by Virginia Wesleyan College.
 
On Saturday, it was sophomore Kendra Pfister (Dacula, GA/Dacula), a transfer from Georgia Perimeter College, who earned a victory as the Scarlet Raptors defeated Shenandoah University, 9-4. A day earlier, Jessica Thompson (Pedricktown, NJ/Penns Grove) notched a season-opening 2-0 shutout over Fredonia State.
 
In Saturday's second game, the Raptors' opponent, Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland, Ohio, posted its first victory of the year by defeating Rutgers-Camden, 12-0, aided by a 10-run top of the seventh inning.
 
The Scarlet Raptors (2-2) return to action Saturday in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when they face Alfred State College (Alfred, NY) at 9:30 a.m. in the first of a 10-game spring break trip to the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic.
   
In the opening game, Pfister scattered eight hits, walked two and struck out two. She allowed four runs, only three earned, as she evened her record at 1-1.
 
The Scarlet Raptors took a brief lead in the top of the first inning when freshman rightfielder Paige Neilson (Atco, NJ/Hammonton) was hit by a pitch with one out, stole second and scored on a single to right by freshman designated player Valorie Velasco (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East).
 
After Shenandoah (3-4) tied the game with an unearned run in the bottom of the frame, the Raptors scored two in the top of the second to take the lead for good. Thompson, plating first base in the game, opened the frame with a single and went to second on a single by freshman catcher Ashley Croge (Somerdale, NJ/Sterling). Pfister singled to load the bases and senior centerfielder Megan Goodspeed (Florence, NJ/Florence) singled home the go-ahead run. Junior second baseman Mariah Hans (Barrington, NJ/Haddon Heights) brought home the second run with a single.
 
Rutgers-Camden broke open a tight 3-2 game with a four-run fourth inning. The Scarlet Raptors took advantage of four hits and three errors in the frame, with two of the runs being unearned. One hit, one walk and an error produced the last two Rutgers-Camden runs in the fifth inning.
 
Goodspeed, Hans and junior leftfielder Gabrielle Castellini (Millville, NJ/Wildwood Catholic) collected two hits and one RBI apiece, with Goodspeed and Hans also scoring a run. Velasco went 1-for-3 with one run and three RBIs, while Neilson was 1-for-3, stole three bases and scored three runs.
   
The second game belonged to the Spartans as the rolled up 16 hits, including 10 in their 10-run seventh inning. Freshman Emily Nishiwaki (Scarsdale, NY/Scarsdale), who played both corner outfield spots during the game, had a pair of singles in the inning. She finished with a team-leading three hits in the game.
 
Case Western  (1-2) rode the combined two-hit pitching of senior Annie Wennerberg (Avon Lake, OH/Avon Lake) and freshman Nicole Carty (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Sutherland).
Wennerberg worked six innings, hurling no-hit ball until a two-out double in the sixth by Raptor freshman Ashley Croge (Somerdale, NJ/Sterling). Carty threw a scoreless seventh inning, allowing only a one-out single by Hans.
 
Prior to Croge's double, the only Raptor to reach base off Wennerberg was junior Gabby Pfeiffer (Mount Holly, NJ/Rancocas Valley) on a second-inning walk. Wennerberg finished with six strikeouts and one walk in her six innings of one-hit ball.