HAMPTON, Va. (March 4, 2018) – Rutgers softball concluded the Pirate Invitational at Hampton with an 8-2 victory over North Dakota on Sunday morning. The Scarlet Knights (9-9) posted a 4-1 record at the tournament in Virginia and avenged their lone loss of the trip against the Fighting Hawks of UND (10-9).
Sophomore right fielder
Nicole Bowman hit a three-run home run as part of a 2-for-3 day with four total RBIs. Senior first baseman
Rebecca Hall stayed hot by batting 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs in support of sophomore pitcher
Cambria Keefer, who won her fourth game of the season with a career-high six strikeouts.
Similar to Saturday's pitchers' duel, which went in UND's favor 2-1 in extra innings, Sunday's affair began scoreless through three innings with Keefer dealing for the Scarlet Knights. RU crossed the plate first in the fourth inning on Bowman's first RBI of the day, a single up the middle to chase Hall home for the 1-0 lead.
After the Fighting Hawks tied it in the fifth, Rutgers recorded five runs in the bottom half. Hall sent home senior third baseman
Meaghan Wells and junior center fielder
Nicolette Anico before Bowman's home run to dead center cleared the bases and put RU way ahead.
UND eeked out an unearned run in the sixth, but freshman
Bianca Vozenilek came on to get the final five outs, which she did consecutively without allowing a baserunner. The rookie pitcher struck out 10 and walked just one in 7.2 innings of work over the weekend in Virginia.
Meanwhile, the Scarlet Knight bought some insurance in the bottom of the sixth as Wells got her first multi-hit game of the season and an RBI before sophomore left fielder
Hailey Hoklotubbe smacked her first collegiate triple to deep center field to score Wells.
KNIGHT NOTES
- Hall hit .632 (12-for-19) and slugged 1.000 (three doubles, two triples) with 11 RBIs during the Pirate Invitational, hitting in all five games of the tournament.
- All five of Hall's games were multi-hit efforts, giving her 10 on the season. Rutgers has 23 multi-hit performances this season.
- Keefer's six strikeouts are a career high for the sophomore.
- Keefer posted a 2-1 record, 0.74 ERA and 10 strikeouts in Virginia.
- Hoklotubbe's triple in the sixth was the first three-bagger in her collegiate career.
- Junior shortstop Jess Hughes reached base safely in all five games in Virginia.
UP NEXT
Rutgers embarks on a 10-day Spring Break trip beginning with the Parents' Weekend Tournament at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton on March 9-11. The Scarlet Knights will face Stony Brook, Texas El-Paso and LIU Brooklyn for the first time this season, while getting rematches against Pittsburgh and Florida A&M.
Rutgers will remain in Boca Raton for a game against Florida Atlantic on Wednesday, March 14 before heading North to Macon, Georgia for the Bear Classic at Mercer from March 16-18.
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