Softball Opens B1G Tournament Play Thursday Night

Thursday, May 9

Iowa City, Iowa

8:00 PM

Rutgers University

Wisconsin

Pitcher Morgan Smith and catcher Katie Wingert talk inside the circle during RU's season finale victory over Penn State

Photo by: Cos Lymperopoulos

Softball Opens B1G Tournament Play Thursday Night

May 07 | Softball

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The postseason begins Thursday for the Rutgers softball team at Bob Pearl Field on the campus of the University of Iowa.

The Scarlet Knights enter the 2024 Big Ten Tournament as the three seed - their highest seed since joining the conference starting with the 2015 season - in the the quarterfinals at 8 p.m. (ET) awaiting the winner between the Wednesday evening first-round match-up between No. 6 Ohio State and No. 11 Wisconsin.

2024 BIG TEN TOURNAMENT BRACKET

2024 Big Ten Tournament Softball Bracket

SCHEDULE INFO

Games:	Big Ten Tournament Iowa City, Iowa \| Bob Pearl Field
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Big Ten Tournament Central
Statistics:	Ru tgers \| Big Ten
Live Stats & Video:	Thursday, May 9 QUARTERFINALS - vs. winner No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 11 Wisconsin 8:00 p.m. - B ig Ten Network \| Fox Sports App \| Live Stats Friday, May 10 SEMIFINALS - vs. TBD 8:00 p.m. - B ig Ten Network \| Fox Sports App \| Live Stats Saturday, May 11 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - vs. TBD 4:00 p.m. - B ig Ten Network \| Fox Sports App \| Live Stats * - All Times Listed ET
Social Media:	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Rutgers enters the Big Ten Tournament with its highest-ever tournament seed since joining the conference in the 2015 season. The Scarlet Knights enter with a 33-21 record, one win shy of tying the school record set in 1993, and a 14-9 Big Ten record for the number three seed.
The Rutgers softball program is currently playing in its 50th season "On The Banks". The 2024 Scarlet Knights captured the first-ever back-to-back 30-win season, the most wins in Big Ten play and the most Big Ten series wins in program history. As a team, Rutgers has captured school records in runs scored and runs batted in while individually, Katie Wingert set the school's career home run, RBI and walks records, Kyleigh Sand has established new benchmarks for runs scored in a season and career and Morgan Smith bested the season RBI record.
The Scarlet Knights have picked up series wins against Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio State - all for the first time in program history - and also have captured series wins at Michigan State and versus Penn State as well as a double-header sweep at Maryland.
Rutgers has racked up four new school individual career records this season with Katie Wingert in home runs (42), RBIs (148) and walks (109) and Kyleigh Sand in career runs scored (165). Both Sand and Morgan Smith both hold the top two career batting averages heading into the tournament.
In addition to the career records, RU has set two new individual season records. Morgan Smith bested the RBI record back on April 10 and currently has 66 runs batted in. Sand established a new season record in runs scored (62). Also keep an eye on the home run record as Smith with her 19 home runs on the year is four away from breaking the record, while Mattie Boyd's 19 victories are two shy of tying the season record.
As a team, the Scarlet Knights have established new records in runs (326) and RBIs (291).
Several Scarlet Knights have also been recognized on the national front. Morgan Smith was named the No. 1 two-way player in Softball America's May position power rankings. In March, Katie Wingert was featured as the No. 8 catcher by Softball America. Entering the season, Kyleigh Sand was ranked the No. 11 shortstop in D1Softball's preseason rankings. Last season, Payton Lincavage was the Rawlings Golden Glove Award winner at third base.
Looking at the stat sheet, leadoff Kyleigh Sand currently leads the offense hitting .420 with a program-record 62 runs, 76 hits, nine doubles, four triples and four RBIs while leading RU with 14 stolen bases. She is second in the Big Ten in batting average, hits, runs scored and fourth in walks.
Morgan Smith, meanwhile, is hitting .412 with 68 hits, 49 runs, 13 doubles, four triples, 19 home runs and an .885 slugging percentage. Continues. In the circle, Smith is 11-10 with a 3.54 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 30 appearances and 130.2 innings of work. Smith leads the league in RBIs, is tied with the Golden Gopher's Oakland as the conference's leader in home runs and is third in batting average.
Joining Smith inside the circle is Mattie Boyd who is 19-9 on the year with a 2.38 ERA and team-leading 157 strikeouts, currently ranked eighth in RU season standings. In 36 appearances, she has started 29 contests with 19 complete games and a trio of complete game shutouts including a 9-0 shutout over Maryland behind seven strikeouts, a 3-0 series-opening victory at Minnesota and a 2-0 no-hitter versus Army for RU's first no-no since 2022. In Big Ten action, she was 13-3 with a 2.16 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 90.2 innings pitched holding conference foes to a .226 average.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING

Morgan Smith enters the tournament eighth nationally in home run (19), sixth in RBIs (66), fourth in sac flies (7) and 10th in slugging percentage (.885).
Mattie Boyd is fifth in games started with 29, 10th in the country with 19 complete games under her belt and 14th in innings pitched with 182.2
Kyleigh Sand checks in seventh among Division I players in hits (76) and 13th in runs per game averaging 1.15 per contest.

LAST TIME OUT

Rutgers went 2-1 in the home series finale with Penn State marking the Scarlet Knights' school-record sixth conference series victory. While RU dropped game one 4-1 the Scarlet Knights came back to sweep a doubleheader with 5-2 and 9-4 victories.
Kyleigh Sand led RU offensively hitting .600 on the weekend (6-for-10) with her two runs giving her the Rutgers career runs record with 165 runs scored besting the previous record of 164 set by Karen Pelkey (1995-99).
Megan Herka started at designated player in the doubleheader and collected three hits, including her first home run of the year and three RBIs.
Additionally, Morgan Smith tallied a trio of doubles and three runs scored and a double play on a flyout to center field and catching the Nittany Lion runner at first base.
In the game one setback, Payton Lincavage's single in the bottom of the seventh scored Smith for RU's lone run. Lincavage finished the game 2-for-3 with a double. Smith collected a double before coming home on Lincavage's base hit. Mattie Boyd registered eight strikeouts in the loss only giving up a pair of earned runs to drop to 18-8 on the year.
RU tied up the series as Megan Herka and Jillian Anderson both blasted their first home runs of the season. Both were 2-for-3 on the day with two RBIs. Maddie Lawson collected a pair of runs scored. Boyd registered her improved to 19-9 in her 19th complete game of the season. She struck out eight Nittany Lions along the way.
In the finale, Sand scored two runs to set the new Rutgers career bench mark and finished the game 3-for-4. Rutgers scored a pair of runs in the first, second, third and fourth innings. Katie Wingert blasted her 42nd career home run and 13th of the season. Kayla Bock also delivered a two-run shot and added a pair of runs. LA Matthews notched an RBI double. At the plate, Morgan Smith registered an RBI. while inside the circle she tossed four innings and improved to 11-10 on the year.

WISCONSIN SERIES RECAP

Rutgers garnered its second Big Ten series win coming back from a 5-2 setback in the opener to top the Badgers 12-1 in five innings in game two and following with a 4-1 win in the Sunday finale.
Overall on the weekend, Morgan Smith finished the Wisconsin series hitting .750 (6-for-8) with two doubles, two home runs, five RBIs and three runs scoring to go with her 1.750 slugging percentage, Maddie Lawson batted .556 (5-for-9) with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored and Payton Lincavage was responsible for three of RU's 18 runs against the Badgers going .444 (3-for-8) with a double and home run.
Mattie Boyd would go on to earn Big Ten Pitcher of the Week following the series as she held down a 1.17 ERA in 12.0 innings versus the Badgers picking up complete game victories on both Saturday and Sunday. She fanned 16 Badgers and only allowed two runs on four hits keeping Wisconsin to a .103 batting average.
In the opening 5-2 setback, Lincavage and Smith were both 2-for-4 with an RBI. Lincavage's double moved her into a tie for seventh all-time at Rutgers with 38 in her career.
In coming back for a 12-1 run-rule victory, Katie Wingert delivered two home runs for her 40th career home run to tie the school record alongside Jackie Bates (2012-15). Altogether the graduate student collected seven RBIs, tying for the second-most in a game in records dating back to 2006. It was the second time this season Wingert produced two dingers in a game also swinging over the fences twice in a 7-4 win over Colgate on Feb. 10. Her grand slam was RU's first in two years with the last coming off the bat of Gabrielle Callaway back on March 25, 2022 at home against Minnesota. Smith also collected a home run, while Lawson went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs and Bailey Briggs also registered an RBI double. Boyd upped her mark to 12-6 in the circle tossing all five innings for her 11^th complete game of the season. She allowed only one run and two hits while fanning six Badgers.
In the 4-1 series finale victory, Smith hit her league and team-leading 15th home run of the season and upped her RBI total to 47 to move into a tie for second in RBIs in a season at Rutgers. Lincavage made it back-to-back dingers with her sixth long ball of the year. LA Matthews went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored and Kyleigh Sand notched her fourth triple of the season. In the circle, Mattie Boyd captured her 12th complete game of the year and improved to 13-6 inside the circle behind 10 strikeouts. She reached double-figure strikeouts for the third time this season and was one shy of tying her career high. She gave up just two hits on the day.

OHIO STATE SERIES RECAP

Rutgers earned its first-ever series victory over Ohio State taking two of three from the Buckeye in the first Big Ten Weekend.
Both Morgan Smith and Maddie Lawson hit .556 (5-for-9) on the weekend. Smith totaled three home runs, a double, a triple, six RBIs and six runs scored while holding a 1.889 slugging percentage. Lawson collected two doubles and five RBIs.
Smith went 1-1 in the circle with a 1.45 ERA giving up only two earned runs while striking out five in 9.2 innings of work.
Mattie Boyd made three appearances collecting the complete-game victory for the series win. In her 13.1 innings, she sent down 16 Buckeyes on strikes.
In the 6-1 series opener, Payton Lincavage belted a pair of home runs for a trio of RBIs. With her two runs scored, Lincavage moved into a tie for third all-time in career runs at Rutgers with 138 and her three runs batted in helped the graduate student crack RU's all-time top 10 with 104 RBIs. Lincavage's two home runs also moved her into a tie for seventh all-time with 21 career Scarlet Knight dingers. Smith, meanwhile, got the win in the circle striking out five Buckeyes in 6.1 innings of work to improve to 7-4. She also added two runs and an RBI triple, her fourth of the season. Katie Wingert also delivered a double and run scored. RU kept OSU off the scoreboard until the seventh.
In game two, the two squads played to an 8-8 tie on Friday afternoon before the game was halted due to darkness and picked up on Sunday where OSU tied up the series with an 11-9 win despite two home runs from Morgan Smith and a career-high four RBIs from Lawson in the game. While RU went up 6-0 after three innings of play the Buckeyes took the lead in the sixth with five runs on five hits for an 8-7 edge before Smith knotted the score with a home run in the bottom of the inning setting up extra innings.
RU rebounded with an 8-6 victory in the finale. Katie Wingert moved closer to becoming the Scarlet Knights' all-time home runs leader, Smith belted her third round-tripper of the series and Mattie Boyd rang up 10 Buckeyes on strikes in a complete game victory. Boyd moved to 11-6 on the year in her 10th complete game with her 10 strikeouts marking her second double-digit effort of the season, one shy of matching her career high.