Awards for Rutgers Baseball and Softball Players
Rutgers’ baseball and softball players continue to receive much deserved recognition for their stellar 2022 seasons.
On the baseball end, catcher Nick Cimilo was named the District Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
According to ScarletKnights.com, “Cimillo receives the honor as the top player in District 2, which contains players from Connecticut, West Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Washington D.C.”
Nick Cimillo is your @NCBWA District Player of the Year!
— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) June 10, 2022
Nick is one of just 12 players nationally to be recognized and is the only Big Ten player to receive the honor!
📰 https://t.co/v3PnjILR7P#TCD pic.twitter.com/qH9MmJtgxA
Cimilo helped lead Rutgers to the Big Ten Championship Game this season, leading the team with 16 home runs, a .385 batting average and a slugging percentage of .707. Cimilo and the Scarlet Knight won a program record 45 games this past season.
Meanwhile in Softball, Gabrielle Callaway and Kyleigh Sand were National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) First Team All-Region honorees and the Scarlet Knights’ first-ever First Team All-Big Ten selections. In addition, Callaway was named first team All-ECAC, while Sand received honorable mention.
While Rutgers softball season didn’t finish as planned, Callaway and Sand were both standouts.
Callaway had 10 home runs this season, bringing her total to 17, one shy of cracking the Rutgers all-time top ten. She was also tied for second on the single-season leaders’ list for RBIs with 47, and was eighth in homers.
As for Sand, her .398 batting average was the highest since 2011. Her team leading 49 runs helped Rutgers score its most runs in seven years. Sand finished the season second in hits (68), third in runs (49), fourth in walks (33), tied for fifth in stolen bases (23) and sixth in batting average (.398).