Softball Heads to USF Tournament

Friday, February 28

Tampa, Fla.

9:00 AM (ET)

Rutgers University

Syracuse

Photo by: AJ Henderson

Feb 27 | Softball

Tournament Notes Friday: Live Stats - Syracuse Friday: Watch - USF Friday: Live Stats - USF Saturday: Live Stats - Texas A&M - CC Saturday: Live Stats - TBD Sunday: Live Stats - TBD

Scarlet Knights To Meet Up With Syracuse, Texas A&M Corpus Christi & Host USF

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

• The Rutgers softball team plays five games this weekend in the USF Tournament. The Scarlet Knights meet Syracuse for a third time this season opening tournament against the Orange on Friday at 9 a.m. and follow with 2 p.m matchup with the hosts. On Saturday, Rutgers takes on Texas A&M Corpus Christi and plays again at either 2 p.m or 4:30 p.m. The Tournament wraps up on Sunday with a contest at either 9 a.m. or 11:30 a.m.

FOLLOW THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Video and live stats for this weekend's matchups will be available courtesy of USFBulls.com. Also follow the Scarlet Knights with live twitter updates at @RUSoftball.

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

The Scarlet Knights are 6-8 on the season and reached the championship game of last weekend's Boerner Invitational hosted by UT-Arlington..
Grad transfer Gabrielle Callaway leads RU at the plate hitting .359 (14-for-39) and has reached base safely in the last 10 contests. The Scarlet Knight has a team second-best six runs scored and six RBI along with a .513 slugging percentage.
Sophomore Katie Wingert has totaled four home runs on the season, while classmate Aleah Marra leads the Scarlet Knights with four doubles on the year along with a triple.
Rookie Ashley Hitchcock is hitting .267, while inside the circle she is 3-2 on the season with a 3.84 ERA and 32 strikeouts. Fellow freshman Jaden Vickers, meanwhile, is holding down a 3.17 ERA with a 2-2 record leading the pitching corps with 35.1 innings and 44 strikeouts.

B1G STAT SPEAKING

Katie Wingert is fourth among her Big Ten peers in home runs (4), closly followed by Anyssa Iliopoulos in a tie for seventh with three.
Classmate Aleah Marra ranks fourth in total bases (23) and is tied for for eighth in doubles (4) and sacrifice bunts (2).
Freshman Taylor Fawcett is also tied with Marra for eighth in the league in sac bunts (2) and is tied for tenth in stolen baes (3).
Fellow first-year Scarlet Knight Payton Lincavage is tied for third with a trio of sac bunts.
From the mound, Jaden Vickers' 44 strikeouts on the year place her ninth among Big Ten hurlers.
Ashley Hitchcock's 12 strikeouts by opponents looking is seventh in the conference.

RECAPPING LAST WEEKEND

Rutgers dropped its three round robin games at the Boerner Invitational but rebounded with a 2-0 shutout of top-seeded UTSA to play its way into the championship game of the tournament. The Scarlet Knights were edged by a run, 2-1, by Kansas in the championship.
Rutgers collected four of its 13 home run to-date at the Boerner Invitational with Aleah Marra, Kiana Workman, Anyssa Iliopoulos and Taylor Fawcett all going over the fence during the five-game tournament.
Gabrielle Callaway led Rutgers at the Boerner Invitational hitting .500 (3-for-10), while Aleah Marra led the Scarlet Knights with five hits, including the team's first triple of the year.
The Scarlet Knights fell in both games on day won suffering a 10-1 setback to Kansas and dropping a 5-4 decision to the hosts from UTA, with the Mavericks making the most of the final at-bat with a home run with two outs for the win.
RU fell, 2-1, in its final round robin game to UTSA. Aleah Marra went 2-for-3 scoring the Scarlet Knight's lone run and starter Corah Price registering a season-high six strikeouts.
Mara gave Rutgers the lead in the top of the third scoring off a wild pitch, but the Roadrunners came back in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs.
The Scarlet Knights turned the tables in the No. 4 vs. No. 1 contest earning its first shutout of the year in a 2-0 victory over UTSA led by a two-run home from Anyssa Iliopoulos. It was Iliopoulos' third home run of the year.

ABOUT SYRACUSE

It has been two weeks since the Scarlet Knight and Orange last met up at the Big Ten/ACC Challenge with Rutgers taking a pair of wins in an extra inning 11-10 contest and following with a 10-5 victory.
Syracuse enters the weekend at 5-7 overall and went 2-3 at last weekend's Houston Challenge.
Junior infielder Neli Casares-Maher is batting .314 to lead the Orange with a team second-best 11 hits and six RBI.
Following is junior infielder Gabby Teran hitting .279 with a team-leading 12 hits, seven RBI and two home runs.
Inside the circle, senior lefty Alexa Romero is 3-1 with a 3.16 ERA in 37.2 innings of work with 20 strikeouts and three complete games. Freshman right hander Catie Dobbs, meanwhile, in her three appearances is holding down a 2.86 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 14.2 innings pitched.

ABOUT USF

The Bulls begin their tournament at 6-7 on the year and have won four-straight and six of their last seven with a pair of wins of FIU and Tennessee hosting last weekend's USF Invitational.
Last year, USF went 41-19 overall and 17-4 in the American Athletic Conference with a NCAA regional appearance.
Senior outfielder Ana Marie Bruni leads the Bulls offensively batting .455 with 20 hits and six runs and is followed by sophomore outfielder Meghan Sheehan hitting .321.
The pitchers are led by junior right-hander Georgina Corrick with a 2.13 ERA and 5-3 record in her 11 appearances. She has logged four complete games and 61 strikeouts on the year.

ABOUT TEXAS A&M - CORPUS CHRISTI

The Islanders come to the Sunshine State at 4-9 overall coming off a 1-4 appearance hosting the Islander Invitational last weekend.
Freshman righty Sydney Hoyt leads Texas A&M CC with a .400 batting average and .840 slugging percentage with three home runs and nine RBI. Hoyt has also made six appearances inside the circle.
Sophomore right-hander Jenika Lombrana is 3-3 on the year leading the pitching staff with a 2.19 ERA and four complete games and 27 strikeouts.

UP NEXT

Rutgers softball makes its way to the Thundering Herd Round Robin in Huntington, West Virginia. The Scarlet Knights will meet host Marshall along with Bucknell.

Follow Rutgers softball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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