Rutgers Softball Set to Begin Big Ten Tournament Play

Alyssa Landrith (l) and Rebecca Hall meet at the mound during a recent Rutgers softball game. (Photo by Catalina Fragoso – DoubleGSports)

The Big Ten softball tournament begins today at Buckeye Field on the campus of Ohio State University. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights will participate in their first Big Ten softball tournament as the No. 7 seed.

Rutgers will take on No. 10 seed Iowa in primetime at 8pm EST. The game will be broadcast by Big Ten Network.

In their inaugural season in the conference, the Scarlet Knights went 29-19 overall, 11-12 in the Big Ten.

Rutgers is led by senior Jackie Bates, a Second Team All-Big Ten selection after hitting .393 with a conference leading 22 home runs. She notched 59 hits, three triples, scored 59 runs and walked 36 times. Her slugging percentage was .947.

Bates’ classmate, Alyssa Landrith, leads Rutgers in the circle. Landrith went 15-11 with a 3.23 ERA this season to earn Second Team Big Ten honors.

Landrith became the schools all-time winningest pitcher in the final regular season game of the year.  She picked up her 67th victory in a 3-2 walk-off win over Wisconsin. Bates belted a two-run home run to tie the game, Landrith threw four scoreless innings. On the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning, freshman first baseman Rebecca Hall hit a walk-off home run to give the Scarlet Knights the win and Landrith the record setting decision.

Rutgers and Iowa did not play this season and have never played as conference foes on a softball diamond. Iowa leads the all-time series with Rutgers 4-0.

Iowa finished the regular season, going 17-39, 8-15 in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes are led by unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selection Megan Blank. Blank leads the Iowa lineup in batting average (.435), hits (70), home runs (9), doubles (17) and RBIs (40).

The winner of tonight’s game will advance to play No. 2 seed Minnesota.

Rutgers will need all the support they can get if they’re going to advance past the Hawkeyes and Golden Gophers. Scarlet Knights fans looking to attend the tourney can book flights to Columbus from Newark from Hipmunk.com. Flights are ranging anywhere from $250-$400 round trip, depending upon date and time of arrival and departure.  Also, you can check out Hipmunk’s hotels in Columbus guide which details all available hotel accommodations, including Airbnb, starting from just $55.