Softball | 5/4/2011 9:36:47 AM

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ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT softball team will travel to Ithaca this weekend for the 2011 Empire 8 Championship, which gets underway on Friday, May 5.  RIT, seeded second, will play third-seeded St. John Fisher in the opening game of the double elimination tournament at 10 a.m. at Kostrinsky Field.  Top-seed Ithaca will host Stevens, seeded fourth at 12 p.m.  RIT finished Empire 8 play with an 11-3 record, and is 21-10 overall.

RIT enters the Empire 8 Tournament with a 9-1 record over its last 10 games.  The Tigers have won 20 games in a season for the first time since 2005.  Pitchers Carlissa Cole (Alden, NY/Alden) and Brittany Kemp (Dansville, NY/Wayland-Cohocton) have been dominant for the Tigers over the last month.  Cole has an 8-0 record with a 1.02 earned run average and 0.98 WHIP over her last nine appearances. Overall, she is 12-3 with a 1.88 ERA. Kemp is 4-1 with 50 strikeouts in 33 innings over her last five starts, allowing just four earned runs, and dropping her ERA by nearly a full run. Kemp has 118 strikeouts in 91 innings this season, with a 9-6 mark and 2.53 ERA.

RIT has hit 16 home runs this season, one shy of the school record set in 2009. Nine different Tigers have a home run this season, led by junior Michelle Tabisz (Silver Spring, MD/Paint Branch), who has four home runs and 20 runs batted in, while hitting .356.  Sophomore Emily Courtney (Berlin, CT/Kingswood-Oxford) leads the Tigers with a .364 average, with 11 doubles, two homers and 15 RBIs.  Cole, a senior, is hitting .348 with three homers and 17 RBIs, while sophomore Tori Nadow (Charlton, MA/Shepherd Hill) is hitting .337 with 20 runs batted in.  Junior Shannon McCormick (Auburn, NY/Auburn) is 13-for-13 in stolen base attempts, and leads the team with 24 runs scored.

RIT is 1-1 against Ithaca, 1-1 versus Fisher, and 2-0 against Stevens this season.  RIT can advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history if they win the Empire 8 Tournament.  RIT competed in the NCAA Tournament during the 2001 season.

Weekend schedule of games
Friday, May 6
Game 1: 10 a.m. - Seed #2 (RIT) vs. Seed #3 (St. John Fisher)
Game 2: 12 p.m. - Seed #1 (Ithaca) vs. Seed #4 (Stevens)
Game 3: 2 p.m. - Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2
Game 4: 4 p.m. - Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2

Saturday, May 7
Game 5: 11 a.m. - Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4
Game 6: 1 p.m. -  Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
Game 7: 3 p.m. - If necessary game- If the Winner of Game 4 loses Game 6 then the two teams will play again.

Sunday, May 8
Rain date