Wednesday, May 1
Piscataway, NJ
4:00 PM
Rutgers University
vs
LIU Brooklyn
Softball Hosts Final Non-Conference Game Opposite LIU Brooklyn
Apr 30 | Softball
Scarlet Knights and Blackbirds split a two-game season series in 2018; meet at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (April 29, 2019) - Rutgers softball hosts its 2019 non-conference finale on Wednesday, May 1 against LIU Brooklyn at 4 p.m. from the RU Softball Complex.
The Scarlet Knights (25-22) are 8-2 over their last 10 games, and enter Wednesday with a 16-11 record in non-conference contests this spring. The Blackbirds (29-15) are in first place in the NEC with a 10-2 record, and have similarly gone 8-2 over its last 10 overall.
Last season, the two sides split a two-game season series with Rutgers winning 4-1 in the final game of the Florida Atlantic Tournament in Boca Raton in March behind RBIs from Jess Hughes and Myah Moy, and a complete-game, three-hit victory for Cambria Keefer in the circle. LIU Brooklyn won a wild, 11-10 contest in nine innings in April despite Anyssa Iliopoulos' two doubles and a grand slam for five RBIs and Hughes' 2-for-5 day with two RBIs. The Scarlet Knights trailed 7-2 heading into the seventh before Iliopoulos' grand slam and Hughes' two-out, RBI single forced extra innings.
ADMISSION & PARKING ARE FREE (*Requires registration)
While parking will be free of charge, all fans who do not possess a student or faculty/staff parking pass, and who plan on attending a Rutgers Athletics event (not including football, men's and women's basketball and wrestling) must register each vehicle to be parked, per new University policy. The free parking registration can be completed once for an entire season at each parking facility.
Register for free parking here.
FOLLOW LIVE
Live Stats | Live Video | Twitter
HEAD-TO-HEAD
KNIGHT NOTES
RECENT SUCCESS: BY THE NUMBERS
• Winning seven of eight Big Ten games from April 12-23, the Scarlet Knights produced their best eight-game conference stretch since winning 11 straight games in the Atlantic 10 in 1990 (29 years).
• Rutgers won five straight Big Ten games for the first time since April 20-24, 2016.
• With three wins at Penn State, the Scarlet Knights swept a three-game Big Ten series for the first time since taking three against Indiana at home April 22-24, 2016.
• At No. 78, RU is in the Top 100 of the RPI rankings for the first time since April 12, 2015 (No. 70).
• Rutgers owns a pair of wins over RPI Top 50 teams this year (No. 38 Ohio State and No. 46 Indiana).
• Rutgers has qualified for the Big Ten Championships for the first time since 2016, and third time overall since joining the conference in 2015. Currently in sixth place, Rutgers is seeking its highest seed in the postseason tournament since earning the No. 7 seed in its debut in 2015. The Scarlet Knights can finish anywhere from sixth to 10th place with three conference games remaining. The single-elimination tournament will be held May 9-12 at Indiana's Andy Mohr Field in Bloomington.
• Rutgers erased a 6-0 deficit with seven unanswered runs to top Maryland, 7-6, in eight innings on Tuesday to sweep the midweek doubleheader. Freshman catcher Katie Wingert ended the game by hitting Rutgers' first walk-off home run since 2015. Her 15 homers now rank 24th in the NCAA.
• Wingert was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on April 15 after hitting three home runs and producing six RBIs in the Penn State sweep. Wingert was the Scarlet Knights' first Big Ten Freshman of the Week since 2015 and Rutgers' first overall Big Ten weekly honoree since 2016. Four out of her last five home runs are of the go-ahead variety in wins at Ohio State and Penn State, and Tuesday against Maryland. The rookie is slashing .308/.405/.692 overall and leads the Big Ten with 15 home runs. Defensively, she has a .976 fielding percentage from behind the plate, and has thrown out 12 runners with a 71% stolen base-allowed rate.
• Senior shortstop Jess Hughes is ranked eighth among the NCAA Division I softball active leaders in runs scored with 196. She also ranks ninth with 137 career walks drawn.
• Freshman Penelope Russ made her collegiate debut on April 13 at Penn State, and has since gone 4-for-10 at the plate with an RBI. She started all three games at Indiana at designated player, and is 4-for-7 over her last five games.
• In the 3-0 win at Penn State, freshman pitcher Corah Price recorded Rutgers' first seven-inning one-hitter since Alyssa Landrith beat UTSA on Feb. 15, 2014. Price faced the minimum 21 batters in the masterpiece. The rookie leads the staff in innings (156.1), ERA (2.82), WHIP (1.12) and strikeouts (100). Price's nine strikeouts against Robert Morris was the program's most in a game since nine on March 18, 2016.
• With 25 victories in her debut season, head coach Kristen Butler becomes the winningest first-year head coach in Rutgers softball history. Pat Willis had 22 wins in 1980 and Jay Nelson had 20 wins in 2007.
• Butler won her first game at the helm of the Scarlet Knights on Saturday, Feb. 9 against Jacksonville State. A former SEC Player of the Year and record-setting professional softball player in the United States and Japan, Butler has spent the last four seasons turning around the program as head coach at Toledo while earning the 2018 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honor.
TRENDING
• Twelve of Rutgers' games have been decided by one run (RU is 6-6).
• Rutgers is 17-1 when scoring 5+ runs, and 2-13 when an opponent scores 6+ runs.
• Rutgers is 18-8 when scoring first and has scored first in 18 of its 25 victories.
• Rutgers has scored in the first inning 20 times, and in 14 of the last 25.
• Rutgers is 10-1 when hitting 2+ home runs and 3-0 when hitting 3+ home runs.
• Rutgers is 16-2 when leading after 5.
• Jess Hughes leads the team with 15 multi-hit games, while Katie Wingert has a team-best 11 games with multiple RBIs. Both carry a five-game streak of reaching base safely into the LIU Brooklyn game.
UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights wrap the 2019 regular season
The Scarlet Knights (25-22) are 8-2 over their last 10 games, and enter Wednesday with a 16-11 record in non-conference contests this spring. The Blackbirds (29-15) are in first place in the NEC with a 10-2 record, and have similarly gone 8-2 over its last 10 overall.
Last season, the two sides split a two-game season series with Rutgers winning 4-1 in the final game of the Florida Atlantic Tournament in Boca Raton in March behind RBIs from Jess Hughes and Myah Moy, and a complete-game, three-hit victory for Cambria Keefer in the circle. LIU Brooklyn won a wild, 11-10 contest in nine innings in April despite Anyssa Iliopoulos' two doubles and a grand slam for five RBIs and Hughes' 2-for-5 day with two RBIs. The Scarlet Knights trailed 7-2 heading into the seventh before Iliopoulos' grand slam and Hughes' two-out, RBI single forced extra innings.
ADMISSION & PARKING ARE FREE (*Requires registration)
While parking will be free of charge, all fans who do not possess a student or faculty/staff parking pass, and who plan on attending a Rutgers Athletics event (not including football, men's and women's basketball and wrestling) must register each vehicle to be parked, per new University policy. The free parking registration can be completed once for an entire season at each parking facility.
Register for free parking here.
FOLLOW LIVE
Live Stats | Live Video | Twitter
HEAD-TO-HEAD
KNIGHT NOTES
RECENT SUCCESS: BY THE NUMBERS
• Winning seven of eight Big Ten games from April 12-23, the Scarlet Knights produced their best eight-game conference stretch since winning 11 straight games in the Atlantic 10 in 1990 (29 years).
• Rutgers won five straight Big Ten games for the first time since April 20-24, 2016.
• With three wins at Penn State, the Scarlet Knights swept a three-game Big Ten series for the first time since taking three against Indiana at home April 22-24, 2016.
• At No. 78, RU is in the Top 100 of the RPI rankings for the first time since April 12, 2015 (No. 70).
• Rutgers owns a pair of wins over RPI Top 50 teams this year (No. 38 Ohio State and No. 46 Indiana).
• Rutgers has qualified for the Big Ten Championships for the first time since 2016, and third time overall since joining the conference in 2015. Currently in sixth place, Rutgers is seeking its highest seed in the postseason tournament since earning the No. 7 seed in its debut in 2015. The Scarlet Knights can finish anywhere from sixth to 10th place with three conference games remaining. The single-elimination tournament will be held May 9-12 at Indiana's Andy Mohr Field in Bloomington.
• Rutgers erased a 6-0 deficit with seven unanswered runs to top Maryland, 7-6, in eight innings on Tuesday to sweep the midweek doubleheader. Freshman catcher Katie Wingert ended the game by hitting Rutgers' first walk-off home run since 2015. Her 15 homers now rank 24th in the NCAA.
• Wingert was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on April 15 after hitting three home runs and producing six RBIs in the Penn State sweep. Wingert was the Scarlet Knights' first Big Ten Freshman of the Week since 2015 and Rutgers' first overall Big Ten weekly honoree since 2016. Four out of her last five home runs are of the go-ahead variety in wins at Ohio State and Penn State, and Tuesday against Maryland. The rookie is slashing .308/.405/.692 overall and leads the Big Ten with 15 home runs. Defensively, she has a .976 fielding percentage from behind the plate, and has thrown out 12 runners with a 71% stolen base-allowed rate.
• Senior shortstop Jess Hughes is ranked eighth among the NCAA Division I softball active leaders in runs scored with 196. She also ranks ninth with 137 career walks drawn.
• Freshman Penelope Russ made her collegiate debut on April 13 at Penn State, and has since gone 4-for-10 at the plate with an RBI. She started all three games at Indiana at designated player, and is 4-for-7 over her last five games.
• In the 3-0 win at Penn State, freshman pitcher Corah Price recorded Rutgers' first seven-inning one-hitter since Alyssa Landrith beat UTSA on Feb. 15, 2014. Price faced the minimum 21 batters in the masterpiece. The rookie leads the staff in innings (156.1), ERA (2.82), WHIP (1.12) and strikeouts (100). Price's nine strikeouts against Robert Morris was the program's most in a game since nine on March 18, 2016.
• With 25 victories in her debut season, head coach Kristen Butler becomes the winningest first-year head coach in Rutgers softball history. Pat Willis had 22 wins in 1980 and Jay Nelson had 20 wins in 2007.
• Butler won her first game at the helm of the Scarlet Knights on Saturday, Feb. 9 against Jacksonville State. A former SEC Player of the Year and record-setting professional softball player in the United States and Japan, Butler has spent the last four seasons turning around the program as head coach at Toledo while earning the 2018 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honor.
TRENDING
• Twelve of Rutgers' games have been decided by one run (RU is 6-6).
• Rutgers is 17-1 when scoring 5+ runs, and 2-13 when an opponent scores 6+ runs.
• Rutgers is 18-8 when scoring first and has scored first in 18 of its 25 victories.
• Rutgers has scored in the first inning 20 times, and in 14 of the last 25.
• Rutgers is 10-1 when hitting 2+ home runs and 3-0 when hitting 3+ home runs.
• Rutgers is 16-2 when leading after 5.
• Jess Hughes leads the team with 15 multi-hit games, while Katie Wingert has a team-best 11 games with multiple RBIs. Both carry a five-game streak of reaching base safely into the LIU Brooklyn game.
UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights wrap the 2019 regular season
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/OF
/ Softball
C
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