Softball Opens Big Ten Play At Illinois

Friday, March 24

Champaign, Ill.

4:00 PM

Rutgers University

Illinois

Taylor Fawcett in the bullpen prior to the softball's doubleheader with UCF

Photo by: Conor Kvatek

Mar 22 | Softball

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers softball team begins Big Ten competition this weekend on the road as the Scarlet Knights gear up for a three-game weekend series at Illinois, site of this year's Big Ten Tournament.

SERIES INFO

Venue:	Eichelberger Field - Champaign, Ill.
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Illinois
Statistics:	Ru tgers \| Illinois \| Big Ten
Live Stats & Video:***	* UPDATED SCHEDULE - as 3/24 - 6 p.m. * Friday, March 24 - 4:00 p.m. - Stats \| Video (BTN +) - Postponed at 2-2 in Top 5 Saturday, March 25 - 1:00 p.m. - Stats \| Video (BTN +) - Game 1 resuming at 2-2 in Top 5 Saturday, March 25 - Approx 30 min following Game 1 - Stats \| Video (BTN +) Sunday, March 26 - 1:00 p.m. - Stats \| Video (BTN +) * - All Times ET
Social Media:	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Rutgers softball enters Big Ten play at 23-10 overall having started the season with eight-straight wins in its best start since 1980. The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 6-0 weekend after hosting the Rutgers Tournament with a pair of wins over Iona and Saint Peter's along with victories over UMass-Lowell and Holy Cross. RU has met up with three programs ranked or receiving votes in the polls in contests with Florida, Louisiana and UCF.
In national stats this week, the Scarlet Knights are eighth nationally in doubles (51) and 12th in stolen base (68). Rutgers is also among the top 50 in batting average (.306), double plays per game, fielding percentage (.976), on-base percentage (.393), scoring and triples per game (0.33).
In the Big Ten, Rutgers as a team currently leads the league in runs (191) and triples (11) while ranking second in doubles (54) and RBIs (175) and third in batting average (.306) and fielding percentage (.976). Kyleigh Sand leads the league in runs scored (36) and stolen bases (25) and is second in hits (45), fourth in triples (3), fifth in batting average (.413), sixth in on-base percentage (.484). Morgan Smith leads the conference in sac flies (5) and is ranked fourth in RBIs (29), fifth in runs scored (27), seventh in doubles (7), ninth in stolen bases (8) and 10th in hits (32). Katie Wingert, meanwhile, comes into the weekend as the league leader in doubles (10), second in walks (20) and sixth in RBIs (26). Payton Lincavage checks in fourth in runs scored (27) and walks (17) and sixth in sac bunts (4).

ABOUT ILLINOIS

Head Coach: Tyra Perry (LSU '97) - 640-536-1 overall (22nd season)/231-148 at Illinois (8th season)
2023 Record: 17-9 overall

All-Time Series: Scarlet Knights Trails 2-7 (Last Series Meeting: Mar. 15, 2022 - L, 5-9 / Mar. 16, 2022 - L, 0-5 / Mar. 17, 2022 - L, 1-9 - Piscataway, N.J.)

Fighting Illini to Watch:
Batting

Kelly Ryono - .345 BA, 17 runs, 29 hits, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 4 HRs, 20 RBIs
Avrey Steiner - .314 BA, 17 runs, 27 hits, 2 doubles, 3 triples, 5 RBIs
Steve Meade - .295 BA, 16 runs, 23 hits, 5 doubles, 2 triples, 2 HRs, 9 RBIs

Pitching

Sydney Sickels - 7-4 W-L, 2.11 ERA, 8 CG, 1 shutout, 69.2 IP, 76 Ks
Tori McQueen - 3-2 W-L, 2.60 ERA, 2 CG, 1 save, 37.2 IP, 25 Ks
Addy Jarvis - 3-0 W-L, 3.00 ERA, 1 CG, 1 shutouts, 2 saves, 28.0 IP, 22 Ks

RUTGERS TOURNAMENT NOTES

Rutgers went 6-0 in its first home weekend to head into Big Ten play at 23-10 overall.
Ryann Orange finished her first Scarlet Knight home weekend hitting .545 (6-for-11) with two runs and four RBIs. The rookie logged two doubles as one of six Scarlet Knights with two or more doubles on the weekend.
Katie Wingert totaled four while Kyleigh Sand notched three of RU's 16 doubles over the course of the six games. Wingert currently leads Rutgers with 10 doubles on the season and needs three more to crack the single-season list.
Also hitting over .500 was Payton Lincavage who went 7-for-13 to bat .538. She was responsible for 11 of RU's 49 runs.
Inside the circle, both Jaden Vickers and Raimy Gamsby went 2-0. Gamsby led the pitching corps with 15 innings of work with a weekend ERA of 1.87 and 10 strikeouts in three appearances. Vickers threw nine innings with a 1.56 ERA in her two appearances and 10 strikeouts as well.

BUBLY INVITATIONAL NOTES

Rutgers took on its first top 25 opponents of the year at the Bubly Invite hosted by Florida with the Scarlet Knights meeting No. 24 Louisiana and the host No 8/10 Gators.
Leilani Chavez batted .333 (4-for-12) with an RBI while Ryann Orange and Katie Wingert both hit .214 (3-for-14) on the weekend. Orange added two runs, while Wingert posted a run and RBI.
Payton Lincavage captured RU's 13 home run of the season, her second of the season and 11^th of her career in a 6-3 win over Mercer to open tournament action on Friday.
Kyleigh Sand had her on-base streak halting at 58 games in a 3-0 set back to the Ragin' Cajuns on Saturday afternoon, one game shy of tying the Big Ten record of 59 set by Adrienne Monka of Northwestern in 2011-12. Sand last failed to reach on back on March 6, 2022 against Notre Dame in a 4-3 nine-inning loss.
Sand moved into a tie for sixth on the career stolen base list with 45 steals.
Inside the circle, Georgia Ingle threw 7.1 innings allowing just three hits and one run in her two appearances. In the first meeting with No. 24 Louisiana, Ingle provided 3.1 innings of scoreless relief giving up only one hit in the 3-0 setback.
With four strikeouts in relief in the 3-2 loss to Mercer, Jaden Vickers picked up her 300th career strikeout.
The Bubly Invitational brought Rutgers head coach Kristen Butler back to her alma mater. Butler was named one of the University of Florida's greatest softball players of all time in 2021 when the Gators celebrated their 25th season of play. The 2006 SEC Player of the Year, Butler was a catcher with the Florida program from (2003-06) setting the program's single-season home run record (17) which still ranks among the top ten in the category today continuing to hold the record for runners caught stealing (22) in a season, as well as the career record for most runners caught stealing (61). She was the second Gator to earn SEC Player of the Year honors.

JEANNINE MCHANEY CLASSIC NOTES

Rutgers went 4-1 in Lubbock, Texas to improve to 16-4 on the year.
Kyleigh Sand hit .600 (9-for-15) with 10 runs and three RBIs while continuing her on-base streak to 56 consecutive games. Sand also had three stolen bases to move into sixth all-time in stolen bases with 43. Additionally, her 21 stolen bases on the season put her into eighth on the single-season leaders list.
Ryann Orange batted .500 (7-for-14) with four runs and four RBIs. The junior had the walk-off RBI single to help lift RU to a 3-2 win over Seton Hall in the finale.
Taylor Fawcett was .467 (7-for-15) at the plate including three doubles and two home runs. Fawcett led the Scarlet Knights with 10 RBIs to go along with four runs scored.
Inside the circle, Raimy Gamsby made three starts with 1-0 record. She threw 11.1 innings giving up four runs on 12 hits with seven strikeouts. She held down a 2.47 ERA on the weekend.
Morgan Smith, meanwhile, made two appearances and earned the extra-innings win over Seton Hall. She tossed 8.1 innings, including six shutouts innings in the second game with Texas Tech. She allowed six hits and three earned runs while fanning eight. At the plate, Smith hit .313 (5-for-16) with four runs and three RBIs.

LOW COUNTRY CLASSIC NOTES

Kyleigh Sand moved into a tie for seventh in stolen bases at Rutgers with 40 career stolen bags. She needs three more to tie Amanda Shaw (2006-09) for sixth and five more to tie Quyen Tran (1997-00) for fifth on the list.
Additionally, Sand's on-base streak extended to 51 straight games.
On the weekend, Ryann Orange hit .563 (9-of-16) including three home runs, two doubles and a triple. The rookie Scarlet Knight logged seven runs, seven RBIs and a 1.375 slugging percentage.
Raimy Gamsby led the pitching corps this weekend going 2-1 allowing no earned runs and 10 hits over 16.0 innings inside the circle.

MARDI GRAS CLASSIC NOTES

Rutgers moved to 8-0 for the first time since 1980 after opening the Mardi Gras Classic with an 8-1 win over Missouri State and a 16-1 run-rule win and 7-1 victory against Mississippi State. The Scarlet Knights, however, fell in their final two games of the weekend with a 4-1 loss and 4-0 setback to host South Alabama.
Ashley Hitchcock, Morgan Smith and Kyleigh Sand were all named to the Mardi Gras Classic All-Tournament Team.
Hitchcock made two appearances inside the circle picking up wins over Missouri State and Mississippi Valley State totaling 11 strikeouts. Against the Bears, she threw four innings allowing four hits and one run. The right-hander gave up no hits, no runs and registered a season-high six strikeouts against the Devilettes.
Smith batted .357 (5-for-14) with four doubles along with five runs and five RBIs. She also struck out three in her lone appearance inside the circle in the first game with South Alabama.
Sand hit .500 (8-for-16) with six runs scored and two RBIs. She also notched her first triple of the season against South Alabama. Altogether she posted seven stolen bases to crack the Rutgers top 10 list and was responsible for 11 putouts.
Payton Lincavage moved up into sole possession of seventh place in career triples with seven total to her name after her second three-base hit against Missouri State.

NORCAL KICKOFF NOTES

Payton Lincavage moved into a tie for seventh on the all-time Rutgers career triples list in the season-opening 8-0 win over Utah Valley. She is tied along with Sarah Kalka (2006-09) as she upped her career count to six. She needs two more to move into a tie for sixth along with Rebecca Hall (2015-18).
The Scarlet Knights took home its first season-opening victory since 2012 in an 8-0 win over Utah Valley.
Rutgers totaled six doubles in the victory over Utah Valley tying for the most in a game dating back to records since 2004. The Scarlet Knights also had six two-base hits last season against UMES (3/17/2022) as well as Brown (3/5/2011) and UC Santa Barbara (2/28/2015).
Kyleigh Sand's four stolen bases in an 8-2 victory over Santa Clara were the most by a Scarlet Knight in records dating back to 2004. Sand's four thefts were the most since fellow teammate Taylor Lane's three against Texas A&M Corpus Christi back on March 1, 2020.
Payton Lincavage totaled five RBIs in an 8-5 win against Seattle becoming the third Scarlet Knight on the current roster to post five RBIs in a game. Kayla Bock captured five against George Washington (3/6/22) and Katie Wingert punched in five against Morgan State (3/16/19).
Raimy Gamsby made her collegiate debut inside the circle last weekend with two starts tossing 7.2 innings with no earned runs, eight strikeouts and a victory over Sacramento State. She allowed only five hits in facing 31 batters. The right-hander made her first Scarlet Knight appearance in RU's 8-2 win over Santa Clara – the second contest of opening day. She threw 2.1 innings giving up no earned runs and three hits while striking out three Broncos. She followed up with 5.1 innings of work in getting the win over Sacramento State giving up only two hits, fanning five and racking up 58 strikes on 89 pitches.

B1G ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Rutgers softball picked up its third consecutive Big Ten weekly award with Ryann Orange bringing home Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors following the Scarlet Knights' 4-1 weekend at the Low Country Classic on Feb. 27.
Orange hit .563 (9-of-16) including three home runs, two doubles and a triple while logging seven runs and seven RBIs and holding down a 1.375 slugging percentage. She had 3-for-3 performances in a 10-1 win over Robert Morris and 9-4 victory over the College of Charleston.
The freshman opened tournament action going 3-for-3 with a home run, three runs scored and stolen base in a 10-1 run six-inning victory over Robert Morris. She followed with an RBI hit giving RU's its third and final run in a shutout over host College of Charleston.
On day two, Orange opened 1-for-3 with her first career triple leading the rookie to score and knot the game at 1-1 in the second inning before falling 2-1 in extra innings. In the nightcap, Orange was 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a home run, two RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base in the 9-4 win over the College of Charleston. Orange helped Rutgers pound out six hits, including back-to-back home runs, for a 4-0 lead on the Cougars by the end of its first at-bat. Orange had a two-run shot followed by a home run by teammate Katie Wingert giving RU back-to-back home runs for the first time since the 2020 season opener. The Scarlet Knight rookie also had the start inside the circle.
On the final day, Orange tallied her third home run of the tournament and fourth of the season in a 7-2 win over Syracuse giving her second-straight game with multiple RBIs thanks to her two-run shot.

B1G PLAYER OF THE WEEK - PART 2

Rutgers' Kyleigh Sand earned her second consecutive Big Ten Player of the Week award it was announced on Feb. 20 by the league office.
The Scarlet Knight shortstop hit .500 (8-for-16) with six runs scored and two RBIs and was named to the Mardi Gras Classic All-Tournament team in RU's 3-2 week.
She cracked the Rutgers all-time stolen bases leaders list and extended her hit streak to 18 games.
Sand helped RU an 8-1 win over Missouri State giving the Scarlet Knights its best start since 1980 behind two runs and a stolen base that landed her on the all-time list at Rutgers.
The junior then added another pair of runs in a 16-1 run-rule win over Mississippi Valley State.
On day two action, Sand was 2-for-4 in the second game against Devilettes with an RBI and three stolen bases, including one at home plate, in a 7-1 victory extending RU's win streak to eight straight. She was then 2-for-3 with a stolen base in a 4-1 setback to host South Alabama.
Sand closed the weekend 2-for-4 at the plate with her first triple of the year in a 4-0 loss to South Alabama.
Altogether she posted seven stolen bases to move into ninth on the all-time list at Rutgers. With 37 stolen bases in her two seasons with RU, Sand needs only one more to move into a tie for seventh with Laurie McMahon (1988-91) and three more to tie for sixth with Brittney Lindley (2009-12).
While on the field at short she was responsible for 11 putouts.
On the season, Sand is batting .559 with 19 hits and 14 runs, five RBIs with 14 stolen bases. She leads the league in batting average, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits and stolen bases. Nationally, she is second in stolen bases, third in hits and 12th in runs per game.
This marks Sand's second weekly honor from the conference this season and third of her career becoming RU's first three-time Big Ten weekly award winner since joining the league in 2014-15

B1G PLAYER OF THE WEEK - PART 1

Junior shortstop Kyleigh Sand was named the Big Ten Player of the Week, it was announced on Feb. 13. Sand hit .611 (11-for-18) with eight runs, 3 RBIs and seven stolen bases as Rutgers was the only squad in the Big Ten with an unblemished record out of the season-opening weekend.
The Scarlet Knight kicked off the season going 2-for-4 with two runs in an 8-0 victory over Utah Valley on Friday. She followed hitting 3-for-3, two runs, an RBI and four stolen bases in an 8-2 win against Santa Clara. Sand's four stolen bases were the most by a Scarlet Knight in records dating back to 2004.
On Saturday, Sand continued with a 3-of-4 performance with a double in an 8-5 win versus Seattle adding a run and an RBI and two more stolen bases. The Scarlet Knights junior was then 1-for-4 tacking on a run, RBI and another stolen base in a 5-1 victory over host UC Davis giving Rutgers its best season-opening record in 30 years.
Sand led Rutgers to the NorCal Kickoff sweep on Sunday going 2-for-3 with a run scored over host Sacramento State. The shortstop broke a scoreless stalemate in the top of the sixth in a 2-1 win.
The RU shortstop is on a 13-game hitting streak dating back to last season and has reached base safely in 41 consecutive games. Sand is also one stolen base away from cracking the Rutgers Top 10 in the category with 30 early in her second season with the Scarlet Knights.
The award marks Sand's second Big Ten Player of the Week accolade. She also earned the honor last season following RU's 5-1 record in their first home weekend of the season hitting .619 (13-for-21) with 10 runs and eight RBIs and perfect 6-for-6 on stolen bases.

ALL-TIME RUTGERS LEADERS WATCH LISTS

	All-Time Batting Average
1.	Kyleigh Sand (2022-present)	.404
2.	Kelly Crosson (1997-2000)	.383
3.	Angie Catalano (1998-99)	.383
4.	Nikki Childress (2003-04)	.381
5.	Juliette Brooks (1996-99)	.375
6.	Carla Camino (1990-93)	.368
7.	Helen Smith (2004-05)	.344
8.	Stephanie Huang (2013-16)	.344
9.	Brittney Lindley (2009-12)	.343
10.	Rebecca Hall (2015-18)	.337

	All-Time Stolen Bases
1.	Karen Pelkey (1995-99)	105
2.	Brittney Neer (2001-04)	93
3.	Loren Williams (2013-14)	55
4.	Carla Camino (1990-93)	52
5.	Kyleigh Sand (2022-present)	48
6.	Quyen Tran (1997-2000)	45
7.	Amanda Shaw (2006-09)	43
8.	Brittney Lindley (2009-12)	40
9.	Laurie McMahon (1988-91)	38
10.	Lindsey Curran (2009-12)	32

	All-Time Home Runs
1.	Jackie Bates (2012-15)	40
2.	Brittney Lindley (2009-12)	34
3.	Rebecca Hall (2015-18)	30
4.	Anyssa Iliopoulos (2017-21)	26
	Katie Wingert (2019-present)	26
6.	Sierra Maddox (2015-18)	23
7.	Sarah Kalka (2006-09)	21
8.	Nikki Childress (2003-04)	20
9.	Jenny Card (2002-05)	19
10.	Chandler Howard (2012-15)	18

	All-Time Triples
1.	Juliette Brooks (1996-99)	22
2.	Michelle Nikolayew (1993-96)	19
3.	Carla Camino (1990-93)	16
4.	Renee Clark (1984-87)	14
5.	Laurie McMahon (1988-91)	14
6.	Rebecca Hall (2015-18)	9
7.	*Payton Lincavage (2020-present)*	7
8.	Sarah Kalka (2006-09)	6
9t.	Amanda Shaw (2006-09)	5
9t.	Stephanie Huang (2013-16)	5

	All-Time Strikeouts
1.	Alyssa Landrith (2013-15)	642
2.	Leah Black (2000-04)	518
3.	Kelly Gallagher (1985-88)	433
4.	Nikki Ambruso (1989-92)	392
5.	Nicole Lindley (2007-10)	361
6.	*Jaden Vickers (2020 - present)*	315
7.	Ashley Hitchcock (2020 - present)	296
8.	Chrissy Yard (2006-09)	248
9.	Dresden Maddox (2013-16)	241
10.	Sharon Martin (1980-83)	204

UP NEXT

Rutgers softball is back home at the Rutgers Softball Complex for a three-game series with Purdue Friday, March 31 at 3 p.m., Saturday, April 1 at 3 p.m. and Sunday, April 2 at 1 p.m. Admission to all games is free.

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