The Scarlet Knights finally finished their marathon early-season road schedule and returned home to host the Rutgers Tournament on March 17. And it’s been a nice return to the Rutgers Softball Complex.
In the final game of the tournament, the Scarlet Knights again won the contest in dramatic walk-off fashion, with a two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth clutch hit when Kyleigh Sand stroked a single to bring home Katie Wingert, giving Rutgers the 4-3 victory over the Drexel Dragons.
Junior Jaden Vickers took to the circle in the closing game of the tournament against Drexel, and while she battled through some rough spots, head coach Kristen Butler was rewarded for her faith in the junior pitcher. Vickers hurled a complete-game, nine-inning victory for her thirteenth win on the season, ringing up seven Dragons on strikeouts.
Drexel took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when freshman third baseman Mia Garza blasted a solo shot to left. After Maddie Kapsimalis struck out, Grace Abbonizio laced a double, and suddenly the Dragons were threatening to break the game open. But as she would do repeatedly in the game, Vickers pitched her way out of trouble to keep the game close.
The Knights manufactured a run in the bottom of the stanza when Sand perfectly executed a drag bunt to reach first just ahead of the throw. After Sand stole her seventeenth base of the season to put herself in scoring position with two outs, Gabrielle Callaway drove a single to left to tie the game 1-1.
Rutgers scratched out another run in the bottom of the fourth when Taylor Fawcett walked, stole second and came home on a Kayla Bock sacrifice fly to left to give the Knights a 2-1 lead.
But with two outs in the top of the sixth, Drexel tied the game on a throwing error by Katie Wingert, who sailed the ball down the left field line when attempting a checking throw on Jackie Masone at third. Masone scampered home on the miscue, and the game was knotted at 2-2.
The game went into extra innings, with both teams scoring one in the eighth to again tie the game 3-3, setting up the dramatic walk-off ninth inning. With a chance to redeem herself for the earlier throwing error that cost the Knights the lead, Wingert started the inning as the placed runner at second base before moving to third on a sacrifice bunt. That brought up Sand, who battled Drexel relief pitcher Jessica Schable in a nail-biting plate appearance before finally stroking the winning single to right field.
Earlier in the week, the Knights kicked off the Rutgers Tournament in grand fashion when Vickers hurled the program’s first no-hitter in a decade, as RU defeated UMES on a rainy St. Patrick’s Day. The Knights posted nine runs in the first inning and never looked back, winning 16-0.
However, the Hawks came back to take the late game of the double-header by scoring two runs in the top of the sixth inning and two more in the seventh, beating Rutgers 4-3. Hawks’ pitcher Ameenah Ballenger got her first win of the season, while junior Ashley Hitchcock took the loss for Rutgers. It would turn out to be the only Rutgers loss over the entire tournament.
The Knights were back at it the next day for two more games, first taking on St. Peters in the early contest. With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Knights erupted for three runs, helping Vickers post her twelfth victory of the season. Vickers this time pitched a one-hitter, surrendering only a base hit to Dakota Pitts in the top of the second inning. Vickers was again dominant in the game, striking out nine Peacocks while surrendering only two walks.
The Knights then handily disposed of Fairfield in Friday’s second game, as they scored in every inning, knocking both Allie Bridgman and Laureyn Rhinehart from the game after each pitched only two innings. Junior Taylor Fawcett and sophomore Kayla Bock each had extra base hits in the game as the Scarlet Knights blanked the Stags, 8-0. Ashley Hitchcock went the distance for her seventh win of the year.
But Hitchcock would not have to wait long for her chance to get win number eight, as she again took to the circle on Saturday against Holy Cross. The forecast called for passing showers, but the sun shone brightly on the Scarlet Knights, as for the second game in a row, they pounded out eight runs to post an 8-0 victory over the Crusaders. Gabrielle Callaway had a home run and three RBI in the game as Hitchcock lowered her ERA to 3.42 as she evened her season record to 8-8.
The Knights took five of their six games in the tournament, and saw standout performances from Sand and Vickers. Vickers now has over 200 career strikeouts, and the Scarlet Knights improved their record to 21-10 while currently riding a four-game winning streak.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Big Ten schedule starts this week with the Scarlet Knights taking on the 13-11-1 Minnesota Golden Gophers for a weekend series on March 25, 26 and 27 at the Rutgers Softball Complex.
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