Softball Opens Home Slate With Rutgers Tournament This Weekend

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – After 27 games on the road, the Rutgers softball team is back home. The Scarlet Knights welcome Holy Cross, Iona UMass-Lowell and Saint Peter’s to the Rutgers Softball Complex for the Rutgers Softball Tournament on March 17-19.

It will be the final nonconference tournament weekend for the Scarlet Knights before heading into Big Ten play starting next weekend at Illinois.

• The Scarlet Knights enters the 2023 Rutgers Tournament at 17-10 overall. Rutgers opened the season with eight-straight victories marking the best start for the program since 1980. Last week, RU got its first taste of top 25 action taking on No. 8/10 Florida, No. 24 Louisiana and a UCF squad receiving votes in the polls.
• At the plate, Rutgers is led by Kyleigh Sand who is hitting .432 with 38 hits, 31 runs and 10 RBIs. Last weekend, Sand’s on-base streak was halted to 58 games, one game shy of tying the Big Ten record.
• Also leading the bats is Ryann Orange batting .347 with a team-leading four home runs and team second-best 18 RBIs. Morgan Smith is hitting .312 with three home runs and a team-leading six doubles and 22 RBIs.
• Inside the circle, Raimy Gamsby is holding down a 1.89 ERA with 5-3 record in her 13 appearances with a team-leading 42 strikeouts. Ashley Hitchcock is 6-0 with 2.57 ERA and 22 batters faned, while Jaden Vickers comes into the weekend at 4-4 with a 2.46 ERA and 38 strikeouts.
• The Scarlet Knights opened 2023 sweeping the NorCal Kickoff with a 5-0 record and followed with a 3-2 weekend at the Mardi Gras Classic. With a 7-1 win over Mississippi Valley State, the Scarlet Knights won its first eight-straight games marking the best start for the program since 1980. More recently, RU went 4-1 at both the Low Country Classic in Charleston, South Carolina and Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic in Lubbock, Texas. 
• Most recently, RU took on its first top 25 opponents of the season in No. 8/10 Florida and No. 24 Louisiana at the Bubly Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.  and also took on UCF, a squad receiving votes in the polls.
• In national stats this week, as a team the Scarlet Knights are in the top 50 in double plays per game doubles, fielding percentage, stolen bases per game, total stolen bases and triples per game. Individually, Kyleigh Sand is eighth in hits, fourth in…