Softball On The Road To Nebraska

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers softball team is back to Big Ten action this weekend hitting the road for the first time in conference play this season. The Scarlet Knights take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers for a three-game series beginning Friday.

SERIES INFO

Venue:	Bowlin Stadium \| Lincoln, Nebraska
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Nebraska
Statistics:	Ru tgers \| Nebraska \| Big Ten
Live Stats & Video:	Friday, April 1 - 6:30 p.m. - Stats \| Video Saturday, April 2 - 2:00 p.m. - Stats \| Video Sunday, April 3 - 1:00 p.m. - Stats \| Video * - All Times ET
Social Media:	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Rutgers returned to the win column on Tuesday afternoon in an in-state matchup with Monmouth. Kyleigh Sand hit her third walk-off of the season lifting the Scarlet Knights to an 11-3 victory. The Scarlet Knights scored 10 runs on seven hits in the first inning and never looked back.
Sand finished Tuesday's contest 2-for-3 with a pair of runs and three RBIs while extending her hit streak to nine-straight contests and giving her the 14th multiple-hit game of the year.
Payton Lincavage and Gabrielle Callaway also had a pair of runs scored in Tuesday's win over the Hawks. Callaway, the reigning Big Ten Co-Player of the Week, is currently on an eight-game hitting streak.
Last weekend, Rutgers opened Big Ten play at home against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.RU won its first-ever contest against Minnesota in the 9-2 opener last Friday and captured its first conference-opening victory since 2015.
The Golden Gophers, who went to the Women's World Series in 2019, took the second game 11-7 and won the series with a 10-3 victory on Sunday. In both games, Kobie Hura hit fifth-inning home runs to extend play for the Scarlet Knights.
Gabrielle Callaway was named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week as she finished out the three-game series hitting .714 (5-for-7) including three doubles and a grand slam home run. She collected three runs and seven RBIs. She was the fourth Scarlet Knight awarded a weekly honor from the league this season.
Kyleigh Sand batted .556 (5-for-9) against the Golden Gophers with five runs scored.
Rutgers softball entered conference play jumping out to a 21-10 record in its best start in 41 years.

ABOUT NEBRASKA

Head Coach: Rhonda Revelle (Nebraska '84) – 1053-629 (31st season)/ 1045-613 at Nebraska (30th season)
2022 Record: 22-9

All-Time Series: Cornhuskers lead 6-2

Cornhuskers to Watch:

Batting
Mya Felder: .425 BA, 12 runs, 31 hits, 5 doubles, 2 HR, 17 RBIs
Billie Andrews: .388 BA, 36 runs, 40 hits, 3 doubles, 17 HRs, 37 RBIs
Cam Ybarra: .358 BA, 18 runs, 34 hits, 5 double, 6 HR, 25 RBIs
Sydney Gray: .354 BA, 18 runs, 34 hits, 5 doubles, 8 HR, 28 RBIs

Pitching
Olivia Ferrell: 12-4 W-L, 2.24 ERA, 96.2 IP, 109 Ks
Courtney Wallace: 10-4 W-L, 3.60 ERA, 89.1 IP, 64 Ks

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. She is also ninth in career strikeouts (213) and season strikeouts (127).
Classmate Ashley Hitchcock is eighth all-time in strikeouts with 229 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 is on the road next weekend at Indiana. The game on Saturday, April 9 will be televised by the Big Ten Network

Follow Rutgers softball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Schedule

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Players Mentioned

Kayla Bock

Gabrielle Callaway

Ashley Hitchcock

Kobie Hura

Maddie Lawson

Payton Lincavage

Kyleigh Sand

Jaden Vickers

Katie Wingert

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