· Arkansas box score
· Rutgers box score
COLLEGE STATION — Junior Amanda Nikolenko turned in her second pitching gem of the weekend and sophomore Leanne Risberg had two hits and two runs batted in as UTSA crushed Rutgers, 10-1, on day two of the Aggie Classic Saturday afternoon at the Aggie Softball Complex.
One day after recording the eighth no-hitter in school history against Rutgers, Nikolenko shut down the Scarlet Knights offense once again, allowing one run on five hits and striking out two. The Ashland, Mo., native ran her record to 2-5 on the season with the victory.
Risberg was 2-for-2 with two RBIs, including her first home run of the season to lead a 10-hit attack at the plate by the Roadrunners (3-6). Freshmen Chelsey Chapman and Kelly Cato also banged out two hits each, while freshman Krista Sitka launched her first career home run to give the Roadrunners four for the year.
Risberg staked UTSA to a 1-0 lead with a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the first. Rutgers knotted the score at 1-1 in the top of the second on an infield single by Ashley Royland, but it was all Roadrunners after that.
UTSA struck for three runs in each of the next three at-bats to force the eight-run rule after five innings. Freshman Cassie Miller struck out but reached on a passed ball to start the second. Infield singles by freshman Rudi Cantu and junior transfer Lindsay Perry loaded the bases for senior Jessica Rogers. A ground ball to first by Rogers put the go-ahead run across and Risberg singled to left to plate Cantu. Perry came home on a play off the bat of freshman Rachel Rackley to make it 4-1 UTSA after two innings.
The Roadrunners tacked on three more in the third. With runners on first and second and one out, Cantu bunted to the left side of the infield and advanced all the way to third on two errors on the play that allowed Cato and Miller to score. Cantu then scored on an error when she was in a rundown following a missed suicide squeeze attempt.
Chapman pushed the lead to 8-1 on an RBI single to left that scored Risberg, who was hit by a pitch. Sitka followed with a two-run blast that made it 10-1.
Earlier Saturday, Arkansas’ Katy Henry shut down the UTSA offense for the second straight game, limiting the Roadrunners to four hits and striking out seven in a complete-game shutout.
Cantu, Murray, Rackley (double) and Risberg collected a hit apiece for the Roadrunners.
The Lady Backs jumped on the board with a four-run first, highlighted by a two-run single to center off the bat of Dayna Huckabee, and cruised to the 7-0 victory to move to 3-3 on the year.
The Roadrunners face No. 3-ranked Texas A&M at 12:15 p.m. Sunday.
