CAMDEN, N.J. (March 8, 2020) – Junior pitcher Sarah Byrnes tossed her first career shutout and senior third baseman Rachel Edwards went 3-for-5 as the Rutgers University-Camden softball team opened its 2020 season with a doubleheader split against SUNY-New Paltz here Sunday.
 
Byrnes won the opener, 2-0, with a six-hitter. In the nightcap, SUNY-New Paltz scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie, on the way to a 6-1 victory.
 
The split leaves the Scarlet Raptors at 1-1, while the Hawks stand at 1-2-1.
 
The Scarlet Raptors will return to action Tuesday when they entertain Gwynedd Mercy University in a 3 p.m. doubleheader.
   
Byrnes opened the season with 2-2/3 perfect innings before issuing a walk. She didn't allow a base hit until the leadoff batter in the third inning. By that time, she already had four strikeouts, including fanning the side in the second inning.
 
Rutgers-Camden, meanwhile, had its own offensive challenge against New Paltz junior pitcher Emily Fox, who didn't allow a hit until Edwards doubled down the left field line with one out in the second inning. Fox finished with a six-inning complete game, allowing five hits, two runs (only one earned) and two walks. She struck out four.
 
Both pitchers matched shutout frames until the bottom of the fifth, when Rutgers-Camden scored an unearned run. Freshman right fielder Jayden Hunter opened the frame with her first collegiate hit, a single to left field. She advanced to second on a wild pitch and was sacrificed to third by junior catcher Alexis Davis. Freshman second baseman Cate Petrucelli followed with a pop up behind shortstop that was dropped for an error, scoring Hunter.
 
The Raptors added an insurance run in the sixth following leadoff singles by junior shortstop Nina Arroyo and Byrnes. Senior first baseman Marissa Beebe walked to load the bases and Edwards delivered a sacrifice fly to center.
 
New Paltz threatened in the top of the seventh with a pair of singles, sandwiched around a strikeout. After another strikeout, junior left fielder Nina Simms singled to left field, but Raptor sophomore Kimmy Musarra came up firing and threw out the lead runner at the plate to end the game and preserve the shutout.
 
Byrnes scattered six singles, walked three and hit one batter in her win. She struck out 10.
   
The Hawks and Scarlet Raptors entered the sixth inning locked in a 1-1 tie before New Paltz broke the game open with five runs on four walks and two hits. Sophomore second baseman Julia Mastrup forced home the eventual winning run with a walk and winning pitcher Katie Quagliana later added another RBI walk. Sophomore left fielder Carol Ann Campsey followed Quagliana's walk with a bases-clearing double. Four of the runs were charged to Raptor freshman Rachel White, who made her collegiate debut one inning earlier with a scoreless frame.

New Paltz scored the game's first run in the second inning when shortstop Taylor LaFrance reached on a leadoff infield single. She was sacrificed to second and scored on a two-out single to right center by center fielder Julia DiSpigna.
 
Rutgers-Camden tied the game with an unearned run in the bottom of the third, following a leadoff infield single by Petrucelli for her first collegiate hit. Musarra sacrificed her to second, but reached base on a throwing error. The runners advanced on a ground out by freshman center fielder Amelia Sims, who picked up her first collegiate hit in the opening game on a third-inning single to center. A ground out by Arroyo plated Petrucelli to tie the game.
 
Rutgers-Camden collected nine hits in the game off Quagliana, who evened her record at 1-1 with a four-strikeout, no-walk complete game. Edwards and Musarra both went 2-for-3, while Arroyo was 2-for-4.
 
White took the loss, sandwiching one-plus innings between six innings by Byrnes. White allowed one hit, four walks and four earned runs. Byrnes was charged with two earned runs on four hits and two walks. She struck out seven.
 
Defensively, Davis collected 18 putouts and Beebe had 11. In the infield, Arroyo notched seven assists and two putouts at shortstop, while Edwards had five assists and two putouts at third. Edwards hiked her career total to 196 assists as she is on the verge of becoming only the seventh player in program history to reach 200 assists.