HOUSTON, Texas – Rutgers softball closed out the Houston Invitational on Sunday afternoon dropping a 6-3 contest to the host Cougars.

The Scarlet Knights leave the Lonestar State having opened the 2024 season at 4-1.

Houston 6, Rutgers 3

• Kayla Bock led RU going 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs.
• Katie Wingert was 1-for-4 with a double.
• Georgia Ingle made her first career start going 3.2 innings with Morgan Smith wrapping up the contest inside the circle.

• Houston took an early 4-0 lead in the first. Mikalah Nitta put the Cougars on the scoreboard with a sac fly and Bree Cantu added a three-run home run.
• Rutgers got onto the scoreboard the next inning. Kayla Bock managed to go over the head of the centerfielder to bring home Jillian Anderson.
• The Scarlet Knights cut another run off their deficit in the third. LA Matthews opened the inning reaching on a bunt and scored on a sac fly to center by Payton Lincavage for RU to trail 4-2.
• The Cougars, however, tacked on two more runs in the bottom half on a Turiya Coleman home run.
• The rain halted play just after the final out of the fourth inning stopping play for 1-hour 17-minutes.
• Kayla Bock put a dent in the deficit with a solo home run in the sixth narrowing the gap to 6-3 but would draw no closer.

• Five Scarlet Knights finished the weekend hitting over .400 led by Kyleigh Sand and LA Matthews batting at a .474 clip. Sand was 9-for-19 with eight runs, a double, home run and three RBIs. Matthews in her first Rutgers weekend was also 9-for-19 adding six runs, a double and five RBIs.
• Katie Wingert totaled five home runs going over the fence in four of five contests. She ended the invitational hitting .444 going 8-for-18 with a double, five home runs, 10 RBIs, a sac fly and 1.333 slugging percentage.
• Both Mattie Boyd and Morgan Smith went 2-0 inside the circle while the RU pitching corps totaled 31 strikeouts across 31 innings.

The Rutgers softball team returns to action next week at the Panther Invitational. RU will play five games with the field including No. 9/10 Duke, Army West Point and host FIU.