PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The regular season came to a close on Sunday afternoon for Rutgers softball as the Scarlet Knights were topped 2-0 by regular season champions No. 18/19 Northwestern at the Rutgers Softball Complex on senior day

Both Northwestern runs were scored off solo home runs while inside the circle Danielle Williams earned her 100^th career victory in the shutout.

Rutgers heads into the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 11 seed at 32-24 overall and 9-14 in Big Ten play. Northwestern, meanwhile, returned to the win column after the Scarlet Knights' 7-3 upset on Saturday for their first top-25 victory since 2012. The Wildcats improved to 35-11 overall and 20-3 in league play.

No. 18/19 Northwestern 2, Rutgers 0

• Both Payton Lincavage and Morgan Smith were 2-for-3. Smith collected her 14^th double of the season.
• Raimy Gamsby got the start giving up one run on two hits in two innings. Smith also spent two innings inside the circle allowing one run on two hits while striking out three Wildcats.
• Seniors Mya Mancini, Gillian Walsh, Courtney Wilde, Taylor Lane and Kiersten Withstandley were honored following the game.

• Northwestern scored both runs off solo home runs to center field. Zadak homered with one out in the top of the second while Nelson went over the wall with one away in the fourth.
• Rutgers got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third. With Wildcats on all three bases and one out, Kyleigh Sand provided the next two outs. The junior shortstop fielded a grounder to Katie Wingert to stop NU's Skyler Shellmyer from scoring and also retired the side making the play at first on Nikki Cuchran's at-bat.

The Rutgers softball team is off the 2023 Big Ten Championships hosted by the University of Illinois. The No. 11 Scarlet Knights will open tournament play on Wednesday at noon (ET) against No. 6 Ohio State in the first round. The winner will advance to meet No. 3 Minnesota on Thursday at noon (ET). All games of the tournament will air live on BTN.