UNION, N.J. (4/10/16) – Pitchers Kiele Eichlin and Shannon McMahon did not allow any earned runs in 17 innings as the Kean University softball team split with Rutgers-Camden in NJAC action on Sunday. The Scarlet Raptors won an epic 1-0, 10-inning battle before the Cougars got revenge with a 7-0 victory in the nightcap.
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In game two, the Cougars had been held scoreless for the day's first 11 innings until Amanda Berezny doubled down the leftfield line to plate the team's first run. Samantha Krakower beat out an infield single for another RBI and Tiffany Varriello added a clean RBI single up the middle to make the score 3-0.
In the next inning Varriello knocked a double to the wall in right-centerfield that scored Berezny and Ally Tufaro and made the count 5-0. Olivia Zengel had an RBI single in the frame as well.
Zengel capped the final rally with an RBI base knock after Emily Bissonnette's pinch-hit double off the wall in the fifth.
Kean turned two double plays behind McMahon (pictured left), who has now thrown 34-straight innings without allowing an earned run; Sunday marked her third-straight shutout victory. She earned the complete-game on just 97 pitches while striking out four.
In game one, Eichlin faced the minimum through three innings, while the Cougars had six baserunners in the same time but could not score. Eichlin struck out the side in the fifth and allowed just two hits over her 10 innings pitched. Twice she wiggled out of extra-innings scoreless despite the runner placed on second base to start the frame. She struck out eight Raptors and walked just one.
There was an important play by Megan Goodspeed in rightfield in the bottom of the ninth inning to double-up the Kean runner. Without that diving catch the game would have been over. Instead, the Raptors staged a hitless rally in the top of the tenth to score the game's only run and win 1-0.
After the split the Cougars are now 12-10 on the year and 5-1 in the NJAC. Rutgers-Camden is also 12-10 overall but 3-3 in the league.
The Cougars will remain home and host William Paterson University in an NJAC doubleheader on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
