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Rutgers upsets Ohio State on Saturday

 – Photo by Casey Ambrosio

This past weekend in Columbus, Ohio, the Rutgers softball team faced off against Ohio State. The weekend began with a 2-0 loss to the Buckeyes (23-11, 7-2). 

The next day, the Scarlet Knights (17-19, 1-8) won 8-6 in eight innings. In their last game of the series, they lost 8-0 to the Buckeyes. 

Even though Rutgers lost 2 out of the 3 games, the Knights' eighth-inning victory was the first over a top-ranked team since 2014, when they defeated Hofstra.

On Saturday, many players came out to help in the victory. In the game, senior infielder Jess Hughes went 2-for-3, with a double and added her seventh home run of the season. 

“We have been watching a lot of films, helping us to prepare — we don’t want to go in blind," Hughes said. "We want to be able to have every aspect of the game to prepare for, then we go into practice preparing for what types of pitches we could face."

On top of doing well, she also mentioned that there is always room for improvement. As a leadoff hitter, getting on base is critical to setting the tone for the rest of the lineup.

Aside from Hughes, other Rutgers players put the ball in play and batted in runs, including junior utility Anyssa Iliopoulos who went 2-for-3. Infielder freshman Aleah Marra also went 2-for-3, while sophomore Myah Moy went 2-for-2, and an RBI. 

With impressive hitting, comes a need for impressive pitching, as well. During the game, freshman pitcher Corah Price allowed five hits and a walk with four strikeouts. 

Even though she put on an impressive game, she did not factor in the decision. To finish out the game, senior pitcher Whitney Jones, finished the last three frames of the game, by allowing only 1 earned run, two walks and four hits. 

“Definitely taking it pitch by pitch instead of being intimated by the whole game all at once, and just keeping the ball low, and throwing strikes," Jones said. “I think there is a lot to work on, including walks, keeping the ball low."

With this weekend wrapped up, there are many positive and negatives to take away. Head coach Kristen Butler, although very happy with the weekend's outing in Columbus, has some thoughts on how the team did well, and also how it can improve for the future.

“Couldn’t be happier with our performance. Just about everybody contributed, we had a good practice this week, tough match yesterday and bounced back today," Butler said. "I think the one major event of this weekend was improvement, although (freshman catcher) Katie (Wingert) didn’t get a hit, she had great at-bats and came back in the eighth and helped Jessica."

She also talked about the success of the Knights' pitchers.

“Corah Price did a great job, although she gave up 2 runs, I am very proud of her performance and how she bounced back and went six innings in the game," Butler said. "And that is what we need of pitchers, and then Whitney Jones helped by shutting down the rest of the game, and she did a great job by displaying senior leaders hung in her impressive performance, she helped keep us in the game."


For updates on the Rutgers softball team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.



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