College Softball
Rider Fox Hunting on Sunday
against Marist
LAWRENCEVILLE--The Rider University softball team faces Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rival Marist College on Sunday at 1pm.
The games will take place at Herb and Joan Young Field on the Lawrenceville campus.
Rider (14-23-1) is led by four-time MAAC Pitcher of the Week Rachael Matreale (Williamstown) who is coming off back to back weeks earning conference recognition.
A Second Team All-MAAC honoree as a junior, Matreale was two innings from a 4-0 record this past week, working 25 innings with 33 strikeouts and only two walks.
In her most recent outing against Delaware on Wednesday, Matreale threw a complete game one-hitter, recording five strikeouts in Rider's 4-0 win over the Blue Hens.
Matreale threw a five-inning no-hitter with a career-high 13 strikeouts against Saint Peter's in a MAAC win on April 7, the 14th no-hitter in Rider's history and the second in her Bronc career and she also defeated Patriot League power Lehigh on April 4, recording six strikeouts.
Matreale recorded career strikeout #500 against the Peahens, only the second Rider softball player to reach that plateau.
For the season, Matreale has 13 of Rider's 14 wins and has 149 strikeouts in 151 innings pitched with a 2.09 earned run average.
Matreale leads the MAAC and is 79th in the nation in wins and is 83rd nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (6.9) and 104th in earned run average.
The offense continues to be paced by two-time MAAC Rookie of the Week, freshman Allysen Breeden (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown) who leads the team with a .340 batting average.
Breeden has 22 RBI, nine runs scored and six doubles for the Broncs while starting all 38 games and recently went six for six in a doubleheader against Patriot League power Lehigh on April 4.
Marist is coming off a MAAC sweep of Saint Peter's on Saturday (5-2, 6-3) and the Red Foxes are 19-18 and tied with Rider at 3-1 in conference play.
Marist is led by Ashley Corriss with a .327 average and Danielle Koltz who has seven home runs on the season.
Janine Lalli is 8-1 for the Red Foxes with a 3.14 earned run average.
Marist and Rider last met on April 9, 2011 in Poughkeepsie, New York when the Red Foxes won 3-1 and 9-0.
Rider swept the Red Foxes by 8-4 and 8-0 scores in 2010 and split the two games in Poughkeepsie in 2009. The Broncs have won 15 of the 42 games in the series.
For those unable to make the games, GameViewer (LiveStats) will be available free of charge on GoBroncs.com and you can also track the action on twitter by following @RiderAthletics.
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