FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University softball team will close out is week with a trip to New Jersey as a participant in the Rutgers University Invitational. The Stags will open the tournament on Friday afternoon when they play the host school and finish its run in New Brunswick on Saturday with morning games against the College of the Holy Cross (9 am) and Stony Brook University (11:15 am).

The Stags come off a three-game set in West Virginia as part of Marshall University's March Madness tournament, defeating Western Carolina University but dropping a pair of games to the host school. Fairfield played St. John's on Wednesday for its first game in the Northeast since their season began in late February. The team dropped Wednesday's contest by a 4-3 score as the Red Storm earned a walk-off win with a seventh-inning run.

Haley Updegraff continued her terrific start to the season with a pair of hits against St. John's which raised her batting average to a team-best .333 through her 14 appearances. She has three multiple hit games in her last four appearances and four games with two or more hits this season.  Mikayla Rubin ticked above the .300 mark for the campaign after securing a pair of hits on Wednesday, giving the infielder a .302 hitting percentage. Bailey Taylor started the St. John's game, her third start out of her team-leading 11^th appearance. The lefthander owns a 1-3 record with a 3.17 ERA, fanning 17 hitters in 28 plus innings of work.

Rutgers is enjoying one of its best start in recent history, bringing a 17-10 overall record into the weekend. The Scarlet Knights, who hosted Saint Peter's on Thursday before playing Fairfield, enjoyed an eight-game winning streak in late February which propelled the team toward early season success. Gabrielle Callaway paces the Scarlet Knight offense with a .342 batting average and also represents the top run producer with a team-best 21 RBI and a team-leading three home runs. Pitcher Jaden Vickers is responsible for 11 of the team's 17 victories, starting 15 of her 18 appearances this year. She owns an 11-2 record with a 2.70 ERA along with three shutouts.

Holy Cross owns a 5-10 overall record this season, coming off a trip to The Spring Games in Florida. The Crusaders won three off four games played in Madiera Beach, besting Merrimack, Niagara, and Siena during the event. Kari Jacobson leads the team with a .323 batting average through her 15 starts this season. She has 10 hits to her credit  with one RBI to date. Erin Bengston registered a team-leading 11 RBI for Holy Cross, many of which came off her team-best three home runs. Kelly Nelson is responsible for four of the team's victories this year, sporting a 2.53 ERA over her 12 appearances in 2022.

Stony Brook, which will come to Fairfield next Saturday for the Stags' home opener, has nine wins in 16 decisions this year. The Seawolves defeated Army-West Point by a 10-1 count on March 13 before dropping a doubleheader to Fordham on Wednesday. Kyra McFarland and Corrine Badger both possess a .311 batting average as the two student-athletes each have 14 hits in 45 at-bats to date. Badger paces the team with eight home runs and 17 RBI. Dawn Bodrug sports a team-leading 2.19 ERA along with her 4-4 record over nine appearances in addition to her team-leading 70 strikeouts over her 54 innings of work. Shelbi Denman owns a 2.80 ERA with her 5-3 overall record, striking out 32 hitters.