LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Rutgers softball team rebounded on Saturday morning against James Madison, a squad that finished 41-4 last season with a Women's College World Series run and has won its conference title five times since 2012. The Scarlet Knights picked up a 9-1 victory in five innings against the Colonial Athletic Conference preseason favorite Dukes.

Rutgers, who was topped by host Liberty on Thursday and Friday, returned to the win column in its third game at the Liberty Softball Invitational to improve to 12-6.

James Madison, who opened the season at No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Softball and No. 17 in USA/NFCA Preseason Top 25 Polls and are receiving votes in both polls this week, fell to 3-7.
 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Jaden Vickers captured a complete game for the fourth time this season and her third game in double-digit strikeouts. The junior lefthander sent down 10 Dukes at the plate and allowed only one hit and three walks to improve to 8-2 inside the circle.
• Six different Scarlet Knights scored in the win led by a pair of runs from Payton Lincavage and two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week Maddie Lawson. Lawson ended the game 2-for-3 with an RBI while Lincavage was 2-for-4.
• Leadoff Kyleigh Sand and veteran Gabrielle Callaway were also 2-for-4 from the plate with a run scored.
• Taylor Fawcett collected a two RBI walk-off double in the sixth.
• Megan Herka posted RU's fifth home run of the season.

THE RUNDOWN

• Megan Herka opened scoring in the second with her first long-distance bomb of the year and third of her career. The sophomore Scarlet Knight sent the ball over the right-field fence with two outs and a 2-0 count.
• Maddie Lawson kicked off the fourth with a single and used wild pitches to score. Pinch-runner Mya Mancini followed home scoring off a throwing miscue trying to catch Kobie Hura stealing for a 3-0 Rutgers lead.
• James Madison got its only hit off Jaden Vickers in the top of the fifth with a solo home run from Hallie Hall to left.
• Rutgers responded by adding two runs in the bottom of the inning. Payton Lincavage and Gabrielle Callaway both reached on with base hits and got into scoring position on wild pitches. The two scored when Lawson came to the plate for a double thru the left side giving the Scarlet Knights a 4-1 advantage.
• Four runs came home with two outs for the Scarlet Knights in the sixth to end the game. An error at third allowed Sand and Lauren Punk to score and Taylor Fawcett delivered a walk-off two-RBI double.

KNIGHT NOTES

• The 10 hits are tied for the second-most by the Scarlet Knights this season and the most since collecting 14 in 13-3 win over Wagner on Feb. 18. Maddie Lawson registered her team-leading six multiple-hit outing of the season, while Payton Lincavage posted her fifth multiple-hit game of the year.

UP NEXT

Rutgers softball closes out the Liberty Softball Invitational on Sunday, March 6 taking on Notre Dame at 11 a.m. and George Washington at 1 p.m.

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