LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell softball team (6-9-1) is hitting the road once again this weekend to compete in the Rutgers Tournament from March 17-19. They will play five games at the tournament against St. Peter's (12-3), Iona (4-9) and Rutgers (17-8).

Rutgers Tournament
Friday, March 17 
vs. St. Peter's (9:00am EST) Live Stats 
vs. Iona (11:15am EST) Live Stats

Saturday, March 18
vs. Iona (9:00am EST) Live Stats
vs. St. Peter's (11:15am EST) Live Stats

Sunday, March 19
vs. Rutgers (1:30pm EST) Live Stats 

Team History
St. Peter's – All-time record: 0-0 | First matchup in program history
Iona – All-time record: 1-1 | Last meeting: March 16, 2019 (Iona, 7-1) 
Rutgers – All-time record: 0-1 | Last meeting: March 18, 2016 (RU, 2-1)
 
Last Time Out
The River Had a successful conclusion to their spring break trip to Louisiana, with a 3-0-1 record in their two weekday doubleheaders against Grambling State and Southern. They defeated Grambling State, 11-0, by the run rule in game one, before an unorthodox game two ended in a tie due to darkness. The next day, the squad swept Southern with two run-rule finishes to continue the unbeaten streak. Junior Morgan Fisher (Glassboro, N.H.) and senior Cayla Tulley (Corona, Calif.) led the offense, as Fisher finished 7-for-12 (.583) with six RBI, four runs and a double in each of the four games to earn America East Player of the Week honors. Tulley was also hot from the batter's box in the midweek doubleheader, batting .769 (10-for-13) with a whopping 12 RBI, four runs scored, three doubles, a triple and a home run.      

This streak of success came after the River Hawks left the Louisiana Tech Invitational with a 1-3 record, defeating Houston Christian (9-10) on day two by a score of 4-3 in extra innings. The team fell short to the Huskies, 8-5, on the first day of the invitational and dropped a pair of games to Louisiana Tech (14-5), 10-0 and 8-0 respectively. 

Gettin' The Bats Goin'
After scoring just 30 runs through the first 12 games, the River Hawks' offense woke up and delivered 32 runs in just four games last week. The lineup tallied just one home run throughout that first group of games, but graduate student Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y.), junior Ellie Frederick (Sunapee, N.H.) and Tulley each smashed one over the fence last week. Case hit a solo shot in game one of the Southern doubleheader, while Frederick hit a two-run homer in the first game against Southern and Tulley hit a clutch solo home run to tie game two at Grambling State before it ended due to darkness. The squad also leads the conference in doubles with 19, and ranks second in batting average (.266), runs (60), hits (110) and total bases (143).  

White Hot
Senior Ryley White (Wareham, Mass.) has continued to dominate from the circle for the River Hawks. In last week's pair of doubleheaders, White started game one of the week at Grambling State and threw a complete game, two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts. Her 1.46 ERA now ranks second in the America East, as she sits third in strikeouts with 44. She is also tied for the shutouts lead with two. 

Fielding Cleanly
The River Hawks have limited their mistakes in the field thus far, as they remain atop the conference in fielding percentage (.971). They have made the least errors out of all teams (11) and have turned three double plays, ranking second in the America East. 

Scouting the Peacocks 
After finishing the 2022 season with a MAAC record of 7-13 (22-33 overall) and ninth place in the conference, St. Peter's seems to be improving upon last year's performance with a hot start to 2023. They are currently 12-3 overall, and are riding a nine-game winning streak, last losing on February 26 at Hampton. 

However, compared to the rest of the MAAC, the Peacocks are not exactly seen as a powerhouse by the conference. Before this season, they were projected to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the MAAC, earning 28 points in the 2023 MAAC Preseason Poll. Quinnipiac was the only team to be ranked lower than them. 

St. Peter's returns senior infielder/outfielder Cara McNulty this season, who was projected to receive All-MAAC Team honors for the 2023 season after finishing last year with the team-lead in batting average (.322), OPS (.796), hits (55), home runs (4), RBI (32), slugging percentage (.450) and total bases (77). She also ranked second in OPS (.741), runs scored (26) and RBI (21) on her way to being named to the 2022 All-SWAC Second Team. She was also tied for second on the team in doubles with eight.     
 
Scouting the Gaels
Iona hails from the same conference as St. Peter's, finishing three spots ahead of the Peacocks in the 2022 MAAC standings and earning the final MAAC Tournament spot. They concluded the 2022 season with a conference record of 10-10 and an overall record of 23-26. The Gaels did manage to win two games in the 2022 conference tournament as the lowest seed, before being eliminated by Siena in the semifinals. The squad has had a tough start to the 2023 season against some skilled opponents, and are coming off a 2-4-1 weekend at The Spring Games in Madeira Beach, Fla. They hold a 4-11-1 overall record heading into the Rutgers Tournament.
 
Before this season, the Gaels were ranked fourth in the 2023 MAAC Softball Preseason Poll with 79 points and had three players named to the 2023 Preseason All-MAAC Team. 

Those three players include outfielder Jessica Chilcott, infielder Emma Capuano and pitcher Kara Zazzaro. Chilcott led the offense in 2022, hitting .286 with the team lead in RBI (31), drawn walks (19), hit by pitches (5) and on-base percentage (.380). She also ranked second in OPS (.899), runs scored (23), hits (44), home runs (10), total bases (80) and slugging percentage (.519). Capuano also found some success, ranking third on the team in batting average (.259), hits (35) and total bases (49), while tying for the team lead in doubles (8). In the circle last season, Zazzaro led the team with a 2.18 ERA and 12 wins. She started 25 of the 29 games she appeared in, and threw 14 complete games, two shutouts, two saves and 170.1 innings. Zazzaro also tallied 237 strikeouts and an opposing batting average of .182. 

Scouting the Scarlet Knights
Rutgers, a power five school from the Big Ten, finished the 2022 softball season with a conference record of 3-17 (25-30 overall) and in 13th place out of 14 teams, just barely finishing above last-place Iowa. They are off to a better start in 2023, boasting a 17-10 record and sitting in seventh place in the conference. They won their first eight games of the 2023 season, but are currently in the midst of a six-game losing streak after dropping six of seven at the Bubly Invitational hosted by Florida.

The Scarlet Knights return their top offensive weapon from 2022 in junior shortstop Kyleigh Sand. She finished last season with the team lead in batting average (.398), runs (49), hits (68) and tied for the lead in doubles (12). She is off to a hot start in 2023, leading the team in all those categories.