PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers softball won its third-straight contest and closed out the home portion of its 2025 schedule on a high note, downing with a 5-2 in-state victory over Monmouth.

Graduate student LA Matthews added her eighth home run of the season and a trio of RBIs while freshman Dezaria Johnson got the complete game victory in the circle.

Rutgers 5, Monmouth 2

• Graduate student LA Matthews went a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBIs, her seventh home run of the season and a double. She upped her RBI total to 39 on the season and needs four more to crack RU's season top 10 list.
• Redshirt sophomore Bailey Briggs collected a pair of RBIs on a double and sac fly.
• Senior Jillian Anderson plated twice with redshirt freshman Hailey Stripling also adding a run
• Freshman Dezaria Johnson posted her second complete game of the year, improving to 2-2 in the circle. She gave up one earned run on six hits while striking out five.

• Rutgers never trailed as the Scarlet Knights pushed across three runs in their first at-bat of the afternoon. Bailey Briggs secured an RBI double to left and LA Matthews went over the wall in dead center for the 3-0 advantage.
• The Hawks closed the gap to a run with a pair of runs in the fifth. With two aboard, an error on Picone's bunt allowed Monmouth to get onto the scoreboard while Bonacci followed with an RBI single.
• RU, however, came back with two runs of its own in the bottom half. Back-to-back bunts from Jillian Anderson and Hailey Stripling put two on as Briggs and Matthews brought both home. Briggs notched a sac fly and Matthews followed with a double to center.

B1 | All that was needed was one pitch for HR lucky No. 7 for LA#GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/BmCFfI8209

— Rutgers Softball (@RUSoftball) April 29, 2025