Softball Sweeps Indiana in Final Home Series

Sunday, April 24

Piscataway, N.J.

12:00 PM

Rutgers

22-26, 6-10

Indiana

24-21, 6-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Indiana	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	6	3
Rutgers	3	2	0	1	0	0	X	6	8	0

Apr 24 | Softball

Box Score

April 24, 2016

Final Stats

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (April 24, 2016) - Behind a three-run home run for sophomore Sierra Maddox (Kennesaw, Ga.), the Rutgers softball team held off Indiana, 3-2, to sweep the series in its home finale on Sunday afternoon at the RU Softball Complex.

Rutgers improved to an overall mark of 23-26 and a Big Ten record of 7-10, while Indiana dropped to 24-22 overall and 6-11 in the league.

Junior Shayla Sweeney (Barrington, N.J.) (8-6) entered in the top of the third inning, allowing only one run to cross in five innings of work. Sweeney also picked up the win against the Hoosiers in the series opener. Indiana's Josie Wood (10-8) suffered the loss.

Seniors Stephanie Huang (Paramus, N.J.), Melanie Slowinski (Severn, Md.), and Elizabeth Adams (Crystal Lake, Ill.) recorded two hits each in the win to lead the Scarlet Knights.

The Hoosiers were led by Shannon Cawley, Rachel O'Malley and CaraMia Tsirigos also with two hits in the loss.

Following a scoreless first inning, Indiana added the first run on a solo homer for Tsirigos in the top of the second.

As RU struggled to bring in a run, Sweeney took over in the circle in the third. The righty pitched back-to-back 1-2-3 frames to hold down Indiana's 1-0 lead.

Although the Hoosiers would load the bases with one out in the top of the fifth, Sweeney dealt a strikeout followed by a groundout to end the frame unharmed.

After hits for Huang and Slowinski put two runners on in the bottom of the fifth, Maddox knocked a three-run home run to left field to put RU in the lead, 3-1.

Indiana responded with a two-out rally to add a run on two doubles in the sixth to cut into the RU advantage, 3-2. Sweeney then induced a fly out to strand two Hoosiers on and maintain the RU advantage.

The Scarlet Knights stranded a runner on in bottom half of the frame, as their lead remained 3-2 with Sweeney returning to the circle.

Despite Hoosier O'Malley leading off with a single, Sweeney retired the following three batters at the plate to close the win.

UP NEXT
Rutgers hits the road again with a stop at LIU Brooklyn on Wednesday, April 27 before heading to Michigan State for a three-game set from April 29-May 1.

KNIGHT NOTES

Rutgers swept Indiana to move to 6-4 in the all-time series against the Hoosiers. RU has now won two consecutive Big Ten series against IU.

The Scarlet Knights extended their win streak to five straight contests, tying its longest win-streak of the season.
Rutgers concluded its 2016 home season with Indiana. The Scarlet Knights have two more Big Ten series on their slate in the regular season.
Sweeney picked up two victories in the series sweep of Indiana, registering a 0.68 ERA in 10.1 innings across the three-game set.
Sierra Maddox added her eighth home run of the season, marking the 13^th home run of her career.

With three RBI in the contest, Maddox registered her seventh multiple RBI game of the season and fourth of the year with three or more.

Follow Rutgers Softball on Twitter (@RUSoftball) and Instagram (@RU_Softball for all of the latest news and updates. The team is also on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersSB). For all Rutgers Athletics news follow us on Twitter (@RUAthletics), Instagram (@RUAthletics), Snapchat (@RUAthletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics ).

- RU-