CAMDEN, N.J. (March 20, 2023) – Unearned runs have hurt the Rutgers University-Camden softball team in the early season, and the Scarlet Raptors were hurt again here Monday as they played their first home games since a spring break trip to Florida.
 
Gwynedd Mercy University scored three unearned runs in each game as it swept Rutgers-Camden, 3-2 in eight innings and 6-5, in a non-conference doubleheader.
 
The losses drop the Scarlet Raptors to 2-12, while the Griffins improve to 10-2.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to action Sunday, hosting Ursinus College at 1 p.m. in a non-conference doubleheader.
   
In the opening game, sophomore pitcher Lindsey Rodzon allowed only six hits and two walks in eight innings, but all three runs were unearned as Gwynedd Mercy outlasted Rutgers-Camden. Rodzon (2-7) struck out six.
 
The Griffins' winning run came in the top of the eighth after junior second baseman Shylynn Cordero started the inning at second base with the international tie-breaker rule. She advanced to third on an infield single and scored on a single to center by junior winning pitcher Jocelyn Baumeister. The Griffins nearly added another run, but Raptor junior center fielder Alexa McNee threw out a runner at the plate on a single by Gwynedd Mercy senior center fielder Emma Carney.
 
Moments later, it was Carney's turn to throw out the potential tying run at the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning after McNee flied to center. Carney's throw caught sophomore third baseman Luci Hutchinson at the plate and Baumeister ended the game with a strikeout.
 
Baumeister (4-1) worked three innings of relief for starter Ashley Haggerty, who allowed five hits, one earned run and two walks in five innings. Haggerty struck out two. Baumeister allowed three hits, two walks and one earned run in her stint, while fanning one.
 
An infield error led to a first-inning run for Gwynedd Mercy, but the Raptors tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when a wild pitch scored junior shortstop Danielle Quinones, who had singled to open the frame. Both teams scored in the sixth, with the Griffins scoring on a two-out error and the Scarlet Raptors scoring on a pinch-hit single by junior Kamryn Kennedy.
   
In the second game, the Scarlet Raptors built a 4-1 lead before the Griffins scored five times in the fifth inning off senior pitcher Rachel White, with the last three runs coming on a two-out error that cleared the bases. White (0-5) worked 4.2 innings, allowing six hits and six runs, only three of them earned. She walked two and struck out three.
 
The Raptors got one run back in the bottom of the fifth inning on the first Rutgers-Camden home run by Kennedy, a transfer who played her first two collegiate seasons for Rowan College of South Jersey – Gloucester.
 
After Gwynedd Mercy scored a first-inning run, the Scarlet Raptors tied the game in the bottom of the first , sparked by a leadoff single from senior right fielder Jayden Hunter. Senior second baseman Cate Petrucelli followed with a bunt that was so perfect it turned into a bunt single instead of a sacrifice. Freshman first baseman Bella Lynch dropped down a sacrifice and Hutchinson plated Hunter with an infield single.
 
The Raptors added two runs in the second on a singles by McNee and sophomore left fielder Emily Dubiago ahead of a two-run double by Hunter. They tacked on a fourth-inning run when McNee singled, was sacrificed to second by Quinones and scored on a single by Dubiago. That 4-1 lead vanished in the top of the fifth with Gwynedd Mercy's big inning.
 
Junior Ashley Focht (5-1) picked up the win, scattering 11 hits and one walk over six innings. She allowed five earned runs and struck out one. Baumeister worked around a pair of walks in the seventh inning to pick up her first save. She struck out one.
 
Hunter, Kennedy, McNee and Dubiago all had two hits for the Scarlet Raptors. Hunter collected two RBIs and McNee scored twice.