Morgan Smith, Kyleigh Sand & Mattie Boyd Land On All-Region Teams
May 18 | Softball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers softball's Morgan Smith, Kyleigh Sand and Mattie Boyd continued to receive postseason honors as all three Scarlet Knights landed on NFCA All-Great Lakes Region Teams.
Smith was a first-team honoree, Sand landed on the second team and Boyd was a third-team recipient.
Together this trio helped Rutgers to its first back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time in program history, a program record in Big Ten victories and Big Ten series wins and the highest Big Ten Tournament seed since joining the league in the 2015 season. This group also helped the Scarlet Knights establish new school records in runs scored and runs batted in.
Senior two-way Morgan Smith makes her second all-region squad after earning second-team honors last year. Smith was a unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selection and was named to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team for the second consecutive season. Earlier this month she was named the No. 1 two-way player in the nation by Softball America in the publication's May position power rankings.
Smith hit .408 on the year behind 69 hits, 14 doubles, four triples and 19 home runs while collecting a Rutgers season-record 66 RBIs. Nationally she ranks 11th in home runs, sixth in RBIs, ninth in slugging percentage and fourth in sacrifice flies. Among her Big Ten peers, she led the league in RBIs, was second in home runs and slugging percentage, third in batting average, fourth in runs and triples and seventh in doubles.
Defensively, Smith held a .983 field percentage playing at both center field and pitcher having only made one error at each position on 118 chances. Altogether she collected 67 putouts and 49 assists.
Along with her time in center field, Smith also tossed 130.2 innings with 93 strikeouts inside the circle. She finished the season 11-10 overall with a 3.54 ERA in 30 appearances with 21 starts and seven complete games.
In addition to her single-season RBI record, Smith has placed her name in the Rutgers record book second in career batting average, eighth in career RBIs (112), ninth in career triples (6), second in season home runs (19), fourth in season hits (69), seventh in season batting average (.408) and tenth in season doubles (14).
Senior lead off and shortstop Kyleigh Sand is RU's first three-time all-region honoree. She is a three-time All-Big Ten honoree, the most All-Big Ten honors of any Scarlet Knight, after earning first-team honors in 2024. Entering the 2024 campaign, Sand was named the No. 11 shortstop in D1Softball's preseason rankings.
Sand led the RU offense hitting .418 with 77 hits, nine doubles, four triples and two home runs. She plated a school record 62 runs. Nationally, she is 10th in hits and 12th in runs per game. In Big Ten stats, she led the league in hits, was second in batting average and runs scored, third in on-base percentage, fourth in triples and 10th in stolen bases.
In addition to placing her name in the Rutgers record book as the Scarlet Knights' career (165) and season (62) leader in runs, Sand is also RU's career batting average leader (.396). She also places her name third in career hits (216) and stolen bases (63), fifth in career walks (86), eighth in career triples (8) and tenth in career doubles (34).
Graduate student right-handed pitcher Mattie Boyd was a Second Team All-Big Ten honoree finishing her final season of eligibility as a Scarlet Knight with a 2.40 ERA and 162 strikeouts. She threw 189.2 innings with a 19-10 overall record with three complete game shutouts, including RU's first no-hitter since 2022. She made 37 appearances with 30 starts and 20 complete games along with a pair of saves. In Big Ten action, Boyd was 13-3 with a 2.16 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 90.2 innings pitched holding conference foes to a .226 average.
Nationally, Boyd is 11th in games started, 14th in complete games and 22nd in innings pitched. She led the Big Ten in game started and ranks second in innings pitched, third in victories and fourth in ERA.
Among Boyd's complete game shutouts included a 9-0 shutout over Maryland behind seven strikeouts, a 3-0 series-opening victory at Minnesota en route to the first-ever series win over the Golden Gophers and a 2-0 no-hitter versus Army West Point. Boyd also hurled a trio of double-digit strikeouts in games with Colgate and the first-ever series victories over Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Boyd's 19 victories on the year are second in Rutgers season records and she also places her name fifth in season strikeouts (162) and tenth in innings pitched (182.2).
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