Click For Box Score (Game #1)
Click For Box Score (Game #2)
ROCHESTER, NY -- The RIT softball team split a pair of Empire 8 games with Utica College on Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers won game one 4-2 but the Tigers rallied and won game two 12-8. The win earns RIT a spot in the Empire 8 tournament, their first since the 2007 season.
In game one, RIT took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
Carlissa Cole (Alden, NY) led off the inning with a single.
Jessica French (Springwater, NY/Wayland-Cohocton) singled, moving Cole to second.
Jenna Mausolf (Hudson, NY) singled for the third straight time in the inning, driving in Cole from second.
Michelle Tabisz (Silver Spring, MD/Paint Branch) hit a sacrifice fly to center field plating French for a 2-0 RIT lead.
The Pioneers responded with two runs in the top of the third inning, tying the score at 2-2 on a RBI single by Abby Drew.
Drew struck again with a RBI double in the top of the fifth inning, giving the Pioneers a 3-2 lead and again in the top of the seventh to make the score 4-2.
Drew went 3-4 in game one with two doubles and three RBI. Claire Gerlach went 3-4 with three runs scored.
Jessica French went 3-3 in game one for RIT with a run scored. Carlissa Cole went the distance on the mound for RIT going seven innings allowing four earned runs on 11 hits. She struck out two and didn't walk a batter.
Game two was a back-and-forth battle. Utica jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. RIT answered with two runs in the top of the second and the Pioneers came right back and tacked on two runs in the bottom of the second to take a 5-2 lead.
The Tigers tied the game at 5-5 with three runs in the top of the third inning, but Utica came right back in the bottom of the third with three runs of their own, taking an 8-5 lead.
RIT tied the game in the top of the fifth, scoring three runs and took the lead for good in the top of the sixth, scoring three more runs and tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh to make it a 12-8 final.
Carliss Cole came in in relief and picked up the win. She went six innings allowing three earned runs on nine hits. She walkd one and struck out two.
Cole also went 2-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.
Emily McPherson (Pompey, NY/Fabius-Pompey) went 3-4 with two RBI and three runs scored. She had one of three straight triples in the top of the sixth for RIT to give them the lead.
Shannon McCormick (Auburn, NY) and
Lisa Fronczak (Willaimsville, NY/Williamsville South) had the other two.
Fronczak just missed a cycle, as she was 4-4 with a homer, triple, two doubles, three RBI and three runs scored as RIT pounded out 16 hits in game two.
The Tigers set four school records in game two, including most doubles (8), extra-base hits (11) and total bases (36).
The Tigers return to action on Monday, April 27 when they host SUNY Morrisville. First pitch is at 3 pm on RIT Field.