Lawrenceville, NJ - The Wagner softball team exploded for a season-high 20 runs on 26 hits across both games today at Rider, which, combined with dominant pitching performances by junior Morgan Brown (buckeye, AZ / Verrado), freshman Amelia Van Orman (Orange, CA / Lutheran High School of Orange County) and senior Gina Massaro (Levittown, PA / Conwell-Egan Catholic), carried the Seahawks to wins of 10-2 and 10-0. 

In outscoring the Broncs by a combined 20-2, while recording 13 hits in each game, the Green & White recorded their second sweep of the 2017 season.

Game 1 Recap – Wagner 10, Rider 2
The Seahawks got on the board early and often, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Hana Gilbert (Valley Center, CA / Valley Center) RBI double, scoring Brianna Tredway (Downingtown, PA / Downingtown West). A single by junior Stefanie Aplin (Nesconset, NY / Smithtown East / Georgian Court University) moved Gilbert to third and eventually came around to score as Aplin headed for second on the play. 

In the third, Tredway knocked in the first of her team-leading three RBIs in game one (and five on the afternoon) with an infield single, giving Wagner a 3-0 lead. In the fifth inning, sophomore Karen Prihoda (Hamilton Square, NJ / The Lawrenceville School) extended the lead with a solo shot to right field for her first home run of the season, while Tredway scored on a double-steal six batters later to make it a 5-0 game. The Broncs scored on RBI singles in the first and fourth, but it wasn't enough, as the Seahawks used a big sixth inning to pull away for good.

A Prihoda RBI double, Tredway two-run single, and an RBI groundout by junior Maite Reece (Covina, CA / Gabrielino) added four more runs to the Wagner run total before sophomore Lauren Serrato (Litchfield Park, AZ / Verrado High School) added the final run of game one with an RBI single in the seventh.

Brown went six innings to earn her fifth victory of the season, allowing two runs on six hits with Massaro throwing the remaining frame in her first relief appearance of the season.

Game 2 Recap – Wagner 10, Rider 0
Another hot start at the plate buoyed the Green and White in the second game of the afternoon, as a five-run first inning gave the Seahawks a commanding lead.

After loading the bases, the first run of the contest came in when Gilbert was hit by a pitch, before back-to-back base hits, by sophomore catcher Jessica Carlucci (Manalapan, NJ / Saint John Vianney High School) and freshman Alyssa Tucker (Laguna Niguel, CA / Santa Margarita Catholic), added two more runs. A sacrifice fly by first-year Seahawk Kaila Smith (Millville, NJ / Millville) made it a 4-0 game, and an additional run on a throwing error capped the five-run outburst.

Freshman Zoe Bender (Glen Rock, NJ / Glen Rock) recorded a RBI single in the second to further extend the lead 6-0. The Seahawks then played four runs in the third inning to build a 10-0 lead on a two-run home run by Smith, followed by another two-run single by Tredway.

From there, the Seahawks relied on the unstoppable pitching efforts of Van Orman and Massaro, who combined on a one-hit shutout in game two. In earning her first collegiate victory, Van Orman struck out three over three hitless innings of work before giving way to Massaro, who allowed no hits over two innings in the five-inning affair.

Wagner will be back in action this Saturday, as they take on Central Connecticut for the first Northeast Conference (NEC) doubleheader of the season.