ECAC Announcement | ECAC Bracket
 
NEWARK, N.J. (May 13, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Newark softball program will take part in the 2016 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro/Upstate Championship for the first time starting Saturday.
 
The Scarlet Raiders and their 21-19 overall record earned the third seed in the tournament and will take on second-seeded New York University at 12 p.m. With a win, Rutgers-Newark would play at 4 p.m. against the winner of the game between top-seeded host Stockton University and fourth-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham. A loss would mean a 2 p.m. elimination game in the double elimination tournament.
 
Individually, the Scarlet Raiders can be found in the national statistical rankings. Senior Kelsey Lucas and sophomore Kelly Yusko are each ranked 11th in sacrifice flies with four and Lucas is 15th in the country in triples with six. The team's lone senior is No. 36 in triples per game (.15) as well. Sophomore Morgan Walizer cracks the top-50 in saves with a pair (No. 49), and Yusko's 15 wins in the circle are 64th in the nation.
 
Team-wise, Rutgers-Newark is 44th in triples per game (.38) – leading the New Jersey Athletic Conference in that metric – and the team also cracks the top-100 in fielding percentage at No. 71.
 
Scarlet Raiders in the NJAC Top-10
No. 1 – Triples – Kelsey Lucas (6)
No. 1 – Triples/Game – Kelsey Lucas (.15)
No. 1 – Sacrifice Flies – Kelsey Lucas, Kelly Yusko (4)
No. 2 – Walks/Seven Innings – Kelly Yusko (1.01)
No. 3 – Saves – Morgan Walizer (2)
No. 4 – Strikeouts – Kelly Yusko (100)
No. 5 – Batting Average – Kelly Yusko (.417)
No. 6 – Saves – Kelly Yusko (1)
No. 6 – Wins – Kelly Yusko (15)
No. 7 – Triples – Kayla Gallo (3)
No. 9 – Home Runs – Kelsey Lucas (5)
 
Five Facts
Winning Ways … After starting the year 1-6, Rutgers-Newark caught its stride under first-year coach Kristen Hunt to finish the season with a program-record 21 wins. The team finished the regular-season 21-19 overall and with a program-best seven NJAC victories.
 
First-Team All-NJAC … Sophomore Kelly Yusko was named first-team All-NJAC last week. Click here to read the story!
 
Three Hundred (Not the Movie!) … Yusko (.417), freshman Samantha Hoffman (.345) and freshman Liesel Johnson (.328) all will bring batting averages of .300 or better into this weekend's tournament.
 
Sluggers! … Yusko (.559), Lucas (.526), Gallo (.481), Johnson (.443) and Hoffman (.412) all have slugging percentages better than .400. Slugging percentage = total bases/per at-bat.
 
Thank You! … Senior Kelsey Lucas will wrap up her marvelous playing career at Rutgers-Newark this weekend. She was the only senior on the record-breaking 2016 team and helped the Scarlet Raiders to 39 wins over the last two years.
 
Fans should follow @ScarletRaiders on twitter for updates throughout the tournament and can expect a recap of each day's action Saturday evening and Sunday evening at www.rutgersnewarkathletics.com.