AUBURN, Ala. – Rutgers softball closed out the Jane B. Moore Memorial Tournament on Sunday with a season-high in hits and double-digit strikeouts in a 7-0 shutout of McNeese State.

The Scarlet Knights captured 11 hits while freshman right-hander Ella Harrison went the distance for the seventh time this season for her first career shutout, tying her career mark with 11 strikeouts.

Rutgers 7, McNeese 0

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Freshman Ella Harrison gave up only three hits in the victory. The Cowgirls led off with a pair of base hits but would not reach base again until the seventh inning with one out. Harrison reached double-figure strikeouts for the fourth time this season, which included a stretch of seven consecutive Ks.
• Redshirt freshman Hailey Stripling, graduate student LA Matthews and freshman Riley Hwang each had two hits. Stripling was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Matthews went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Hwang was 2-for-4 with a run scored.
• Freshman Addie Osborne posted two runs and a run batted in and joined classmates Kelsey Hoesktra and Baileigh Burtis with doubles.
• Senior Jillian Anderson also plated twice with Burtis and Siera Hoesktra adding runs in the victory.
• The shutout was the second of the season for the Scarlet Knights, who also blanked East Texas A&M, 7-0, back on Feb. 14.
   

THE RUNDOWN

• Two batters into the contest Rutgers established the lead. Hailey Stripling got thru the right side to score leadoff Jillian Anderson.
• Rutgers tacked on three more in its next at-bat. Riley Hwang & Siera Hoekstra started off with base hits and a Gaelen Kelly sac fly & Addie Osborne double added to the lead. Stripling added another RBI to her stat line with a base hit to left for the 4-0 advantage.
• The Scarlet Knights poured on another trio of runs in the seventh. After a Kelsey Hoekstra double and Jillian Anderson walk, the two scored as Baileigh Burtis ripped the ball past the outstretched glove in left. LA Matthews added a hard hit past second base extending RU's lead to 7-0.
• McNeese opened with a pair of base hits, but the Scarlet Knights would retire the next 19 batters before the Cowgirls acquired their next and final hit of the contest. Harrison fanned seven consecutive, including the side in the fifth inning.

UP NEXT

Rutgers softball is back in action in its first mid-week contest at Seton Hall on Wednesday, March 5, at 2 p.m. before heading to the Bob Heck Memorial hosted by Georgia State in Decatur, Georgia, to face the host Panthers along with North Dakota, West Georgia, and Colgate.

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