JERSEY CITY, N.J. (March 30, 2019) – After an eight-day wait following its spring break trip to Florida, the Rutgers University-Camden softball team finally returned to action here Saturday in its first two New Jersey Athletic Conference games of the season.
 
The layoff didn't hurt.
 
Rutgers-Camden put everything together as the Raptors threw a pair of shutouts, combined for 15 hits in two games, made only one error and scored 17 runs in 12 innings. As a result, the Raptors swept New Jersey City University, 10-0, in a five-inning game, and 7-0 in NJAC action.
 
The sweep lifted Rutgers-Camden's record to 6-4 overall and 2-0 in the conference after the Raptors had split four days-worth of doubleheaders on their spring break trip. The Gothic Knights dipped to 3-15 overall and 0-2 in the NJAC.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action April 2 when it hosts Ramapo College in a 3 p.m. NJAC doubleheader. The twinbill will mark the Scarlet Raptors' first two home games of the season.
   
The Scarlet Raptors scored in every inning except the third as they rolled to a 10-0 win in a game called after five innings by the eight-run mercy rule. Sophomore Sarah Byrnes worked four innings of four-hit ball, walking one and striking out four to raise her record to 4-3. Junior Mackenzie Lafferty worked one perfect inning to complete the first-game shutout.
 
Offensively, sophomore shortstop Nina Arroyo, pictured above, led the Raptors' eight-hit attack. Arroyo went 3-for-3 with one run scored and five RBIs. She singled home a run in the first inning, had a two-run single in the team's four-run second inning and added a RBI single in the fourth. In the fifth inning, she picked up her final RBI with a bases-loaded walk.
 
Arroyo had plenty of help at the top of the lineup. Freshman left fielder Kimmy Musarra went 1-for-1 with one walk and three runs scored from the leadoff spot, while sophomore catcher Alexis Davis batted second and walked twice, scored one run and collected one RBI. At the bottom of the order, freshman right fielder Karlie Kennedy went 1-for-1 with one walk and two runs scored.
   
Senior Kendra Pfister hurled her second career shutout for the Scarlet Raptors, allowing just five hits and one walk. Pfister (2-1) struck out six.
 
The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when Musarra reached on an infield single and advanced on a sacrifice by freshman second baseman Jordan Howey and a fly out by Arroyo. After junior first baseman Marissa Beebe drew a walk, she got caught in a rundown on a steal attempt while Musarra scored.
 
Kennedy ripped a two-run single in the fifth inning and the Raptors scored a pair of unearned runs in the sixth. In the two-run seventh, Kennedy stole home as part of a double steal and Arroyo added a RBI single.
 
For the game, Howey went 2-for-2 with one run, while Kennedy was 2-for-3 with one run and two RBIs. Mussara went 1-for-3 with two runs scored.