Friday, March 25
Piscataway, N.J.
3:00 PM (ET)
Rutgers University
vs
Minnesota
Photo by: Steve Hockstein
Softball Opens Big Ten Play Hosting Minnesota This Weekend
Mar 23 | Softball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – On the heels of hosting its first regular-season tournament at home and starting the season off at 21-10 overall, the Rutgers softball team is primed to begin Big Ten action this weekend.
The Scarlet Knights welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers, a squad that reached the 2019 Women's College World Series, to the Rutgers Softball Complex for a three-game series beginning Friday.
| SERIES INFO |
| Admission: | Free |
| Parking: | Free with registration | Click to register vehicle |
| Game Notes: | Rutgers | Minnesota |
| Statistics: | Rutgers | Minnesota | Big Ten |
| Live Stats & Video: |
Friday, March 25 - 3:00 p.m. - Stats | Video
Saturday, March 26 - 1:00 p.m. - Stats | Video Sunday, March 27 - 11:00 a.m. - Stats | Video |
| Social Media: | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |
| ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS |
- The Rutgers softball team heads into nonconference action this weekend with Minnesota after jumping out to a 21-10 record in its best start in 41 years. All games will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.
- The Scarlet Knights went 5-1 during last weekend's Rutgers Softball Tournament. The victories included two walk-offs - a two-run home run from Gabrielle Callaway that lifted RU to an 8-0 win in six innings over Fairfield and a Kyleigh Sand two-out RBI single for a 4-3 slaying of Drexel in nine innings.
- Sand had an enormous weekend resulting in her earning Big Ten Player of the Week - RU's third weekly honor of the year, the most since joining the in 2014-15. Teammate Maddie Lawson has already picked up two Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
- Sand, a sophomore shortstop, hit.619 (13-for-21) with 10 runs and eight RBIs and was 6-for-6 on stolen bases. On Saturday in the 5-2 victory over Saint Peter's and the shutout win over Fairfield, Sand helped hit .875 with seven hits, five RBIs, four runs and her first career home run - a leadoff against the Peacocks. The Scarlet Knight currently leads Rutgers batting .386 with 39 hits, 21 runs and is second with 49 RBIs.
- Gabrielle Callaway and Katie Wingert both batted .500 for the weekend. Callaway was 7-for-14, including a double and home run, with a team-leading 11 RBIs and three runs scored. Wingert was 6-for-12 with a pair of doubles and four runs.
- Junior lefthander Jaden Vickers tossed Rutgers softball's first no-hitter since 2012 in the 16-0 victory over UMES to kick off tournament play. It was the first no-hitter for the Scarlet Knights since Alyssa Landrith tossed her perfect game back on May 1, 2012, in a five-inning game with Lafayette. Vickers fanned seven while walking four. With striking out 23 total batters in her three appearances , Vickers surpassed the 200 K career mark and is currently ninth all-time with her 201. Vickers went 3-0 during the tournament with a 1.00 ERA and allowed only three runs and while holding opponents to a .109 average at the plate.
- Ashley Hitchcock, meanwhile, held down a 0.78 ERA with complete games in all three of her appearances. She threw 18 total innings with a pair of shutouts allowing only two earned runs. She upped her career strikeout total to 217 and moved into eighth all-time in the category at Rutgers.
| ABOUT MINNESOTA |
Head Coach: Piper Ritter (Minnesota '04) - 44-24-1 (second season)/ 44-24-1 at Minnesota (second season)
2022 Record: 13-11-1
All-Time Series: Golden Gophers lead 12-0
Golden Gophers to Watch:
Batting
Natalie DenHartog: .393 BA, 33 hits, 27 runs, 12 home runs, 23 RBIs
Lauren Espalin: .380 BA, 30 hits, 21 runs, 9 doubles, 10 RBIs
Chloe Evans: .338 BA, 24 hits, 15 runs, 5 home runs, 26 RBIs
Pitching
Autumn Pease: 7-6 W-L, 4.20 ERA, 83.1 IP, 87 Ks, 5 CG
Emily Leavitt: 6-5 W-L, 5.13 ERA, 75 IP, 61 Ks, 5 CG
| FROM THE DID YOU KNOW FILES |
- Rutgers has had its best start to a season since 1981. The Scarlet Knights opened 2022 at 10-3 which is the best start for the programs since 1981. In 1981, Rutgers finished 28-3 overall having opened the season at 28-1 and advancing to the AIAW College World Series.
- Rutgers surpassed its win total from 2021 three weeks into the season. The Scarlet Knights picked up win number nine on Feb. 25 in a 3-2 eight-inning victory over Siena during The Spring Games.
- Rutgers put together an eight-game win streak from Feb. 18-26, the longest for the Scarlet Knights since 1994. During the eight-game win streak, Rutgers went 5-0 at the Pirate Clash picking up a win over host ECU along with a pair of victories against Wagner and Colgate. The previous streak had RU winning 10 games between April 5-18, 1994.
- Junior Jaden Vickers has three games this season with double-digit strikeouts. Her 16 K's against Princeton on Feb. 25 are the most in Scarlet Knight individual records dating back to 2004 and tied for the 15th most in a game this season in Division I.
- Classmate Ashley Hitchcock is eighth all-time in strikeouts with 217 K's in her three seasons "On The Banks".
- RU's catcher redshirt junior Katie Wingert is currently sixth all-time in home runs with 22.
- The 16 runs to open up the Rutgers Softball Tournament in the 16-0 victory over UMES were the most by the Scarlet Knights since an 18-9 victory over LIU Brooklyn back on April 28, 2015.
- Sophomore Kayla Bock collected five RBIs in the 9-8 win over George Washington and were the most by a Scarlet Knight in a game this season and most since Katie Wingert vs. Morgan State on March 16, 2019.
| BIG TEN FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK - PART ONE |
- Infielder Maddie Lawson was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the week ending Feb. 20 after leading Rutgers to a 5-0 weekend at the Pirate Clash.
- Lawson hit .500 with three multiple-hit games along with six RBIs and two runs scored.
- The rookie opened the weekend going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs in a 13-3 run-rule victory over Wagner. The Scarlet Knight launched her first collegiate home run in the bottom of the fifth to give RU the victory. She also added a run in RU's seven-run third inning.
- In a 4-3 win over host ECU, the Mebane, North Carolina native was 2-for-3. She drove in RU's first two runs of the game as Rutgers fought back from an early 1-0 deficit against the Pirates.
- The tournament continued with Lawson going 1-for-3 in a 5-0 victory over Wagner and 3-for-3 in an extra-inning 5-4 win over Colgate. She once again helped Rutgers out of an early 1-0 deficit with an RBI base hit to put RU up 2-1 after one inning of play.
- Lawson is the first Scarlet Knight to earn weekly Big Ten honors since Anyssa Illiopoulos' conference Player of the Week award back on May 6, 2019. Additionally, she is the first RU rookie to earn a conference Freshman of the Week accolade since teammate Katie Wingert collected hers on April 19, 2019.
| BIG TEN FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK - PART TWO |
- Maddie Lawson was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week on Mar. 1 batting .353 (6-for-17) in Rutgers' 4-1 weekend at The Spring Games with three RBIs and three runs along with eight putouts and five assists.
- Lawson is the first Scarlet Knight to win more than one Big Ten weekly award.
- The rookie went 1-for-3 against Princeton opening up scoring for Rutgers in the fourth inning of the Scarlet Knights' 5-0 victory. She connected for an RBI single for the game's first run and added the third of four runs later that inning.
- The Mebane, North Carolina native had a sacrifice fly in the first inning against Siena putting her squad up 1-0 en route to a 3-2 win.
- In the extra-inning 4-3 victory over FGCU, Lawson was 3-for-4. She was the Scarlet Knights' first run of the game in the second and added an RBI single in the sixth to put Rutgers ahead 3-0.
- The Scarlet Knight was also 1-for-4 with a run in the 10-7 setback to North Florida and 1-for-4 in a 5-0 win versus Cornell.
| PUERTO VALLARTA CHALLENGE ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM |
- Two Scarlet Knights landed on the Puerto Vallarta Challenge - Gabrielle Callaway & Jaden Vickers - during opening weekend.
- Callaway, a graduate student left fielder, finished the tournament hitting .400 with six hits and four RBIs. She was 3-for-4 with a double and her 13th career doubles in RU's 6-2 win over Lamar. Callaway also had two RBIs and two stolen bases against Memphis.
- Vickers, meanwhile, pitched 19.0 innings with a 2.95 ERA and pair of wins over the Cardinals where she just gave up just three hits. The junior lefthander struck out 11 batters, including six Tigers in her 2022 debut, and held the opposition to a .167 average at the plate
| UP NEXT |
The Rutgers softball team will host Monmouth in nonconference action on Tuesday, March 29 at 3 p.m and then hit the road for more Big Ten action traveling to Nebraska for three-game series beginning, Friday, April 1.
Follow Rutgers softball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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