GALLOWAY, N.J. (April 20, 2021) – The day may have been sunny and warm, but it was anything but a nice day for the Rutgers University-Camden softball team as it lost a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader at Stockton University here Tuesday.
 
The Ospreys used four unearned runs to post a 4-0 victory in the opening game and posted a 4-3 win in the nightcap.
 
Rutgers-Camden falls to 5-9 overall and 5-7 in the NJAC. Stockton improves to 5-13 and 5-9.
 
Rutgers-Camden hosts William Paterson University in a 1 p.m. NJAC doubleheader Saturday.
   
The first game was a terrific pitching duel between a pair of senior right-handers, Stockton's Marissa Semeraro and Rutgers-Camden's Sarah Byrnes. The game was locked in a scoreless tie heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, when the Ospreys sent nine batters to the plate, aided by two hits, a hit batsman and three huge Scarlet Raptor errors to score four unearned runs. The frame opened with an error and, one out later, another error on a sacrifice bunt allowed a run to score. After a single loaded the bases, senior catcher Madison Kelly singled home a pair of runs. The last run scored on another error.
 
That frame was more than enough support for Semeraro (3-4), who hurled a three-hit shutout with three walks and three strikeouts. Byrnes fell to 5-7 despite lowering her ERA to 2.29. She allowed four hits and no walks, while striking out four in her ninth complete game of the year.
   
Rutgers-Camden scored a run in the top of the first inning when singles by junior centerfielder Kimmy Musarra and senior first baseman Marissa Beebe were sandwiched around a walk to Byrnes, loading the bases. Freshman designated player Olivia Bull squeezed home Musarra.
 
Stockton came back with two runs in the bottom of the second inning on three hits, including a two-run single by freshman third baseman Megan Dignam. The Ospreys tacked on two more runs, on four hits, in the fifth inning. The big hit in that frame was a two-out, two-run single by senior right fielder Angie Dunphy.
 
The Scarlet Raptors scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings before Stockton freshman pitcher Stevie Unger (1-5) finished off the game for her first collegiate win. She allowed five hits, three earned runs and four walks, while striking out three. Byrnes (5-8) took the loss, allowing nine hits, four earned runs and one walk in another complete game.
 
Byrnes doubled in the sixth inning and scored when Beebe was thrown out trying to stretch a single. In the seventh, a pair of walks set up a RBI single by Musarra. Both Musarra and Beebe had two hits in the game and three in the doubleheader.