MADISON, N.J. – Sophomore Olivia Datilio tossed a seven-hit complete game in the opener and the Drew University softball team earned a doubleheader sweep over Rutgers-Newark in non-conference action Thursday afternoon at the Drew Softball Complex.
 
The Rangers (12-6) won 2-1 on a walk-off in the opener, then prevailed 5-3 in Game Two.
 
Senior Amanda Novak and sophomore Gabby Duran pitched Drew to victory in the second game while senior Haley Meierhofer and sophomore Megan Williams cracked three hits each for the day.
 
The Rangers threatened early and often but were unable to dent Rutgers' starting pitcher Michael Hobson, who allowed multiple baserunners in every inning. However, she managed to escape through the first four innings. Meanwhile, Datilio retired 11 of the first 14 batters and it was a scoreless game heading into the fifth.
 
In the top of the inning, the Scarlet Raiders took the lead when they scored on an error during a double-steal attempt. But the Rangers answered in the bottom half, however, when freshman Lorelei Lorentzen singled before eventually scoring on a wild pitch.
 
It remained a 1-1 game until the seventh. Datilio escaped trouble after yielding a leadoff double, retiring three in a row, before Lorentzen drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning. Junior Karly Severinsen then grounded to third and the fielded attempted to throw out Lorentzen going to second. However, the throw sailed into right-centerfield, allowing Lorentzen to scamper home with the winning run.
 
Datilio (3-0) did not allow an earned run during an efficient outing in which she threw just 76 pitches. She did not issue a walk or strike out a batter.
 
Meierhofer and Williams each went 2-for-4 in the opener.
 
The Scarlet Raiders struck early in the second game, pushing across a single run in each of the first two innings. But Drew answered with two in the bottom of the second, when freshman Sloan Walmsley singled leading off before eventually scoring on a wild pitch. Severinsen was hit with a pitch and ended up crossing the plate on a sac fly from Meierhofer.
 
Drew went in front to stay in the third, when Lorentzen and freshman Izzy Wiemer led off the inning with a triple and a double, making it 3-2. Lorentzen scored again in the fifth, when she reached second on two errors before scoring on an infield single from Duran. The Rangers set the final score in the seventh, when junior Kaitlynne Streets roped a two-out single before eventually scoring on a bases-loaded walk by Lorentzen.
 
Novak (2-1) pitched the first four innings for Drew and yielded four hits and just two unearned runs. She struck out one and walked one.

Duran closed it out, pitching the final three innings. She blanked the Raiders in the fifth and sixth, stretching her consecutive scoreless inning streak to 21, but finally gave up a run on three hits in the seventh. But she still earned her second save of the year, inducing a game-ending flyout with two runners aboard.
 
Duran also finished 2-for-3 at the plate in the second game.
 
The Rangers return to action on Sunday, when they host Wilkes University in a Landmark Conference doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. The twinbill was originally scheduled for Saturday but was pushed back one day due to a frigid forecast.