TROY, NY – The RIT softball team (6-8, 0-2 Liberty League) opened Liberty League play by dropping a pair of games at Rensselaer (16-4, 2-0 Liberty League) from Robison Field on Saturday afternoon. The Engineers rallied to take game one, 5-3 and won game two by a score of 9-1 in six innings.
 
In game one, Rensselaer struck first on a run-scoring single by Taylor Ten Ecyk before Danielle Hotz (Drexel Hill, PA/Upper Darby) slammed a two-run home run in the fourth inning to put RIT on top, 2-1. After a run scoring single tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth inning, Stephanie Caudle would put the Engineers up for good in the fifth inning, crushing a three-run home run to give Rennselaer a 5-2 lead. She would also earn the win on the mound, striking out eight batters in the complete-game effort.
 
RIT out-hit Rensselaer, 6-5 in the opening game. Hotz was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs, while Tori Blaker (Corning, NY/Corning-Painted Post West) drove in RIT's third run, a single in the sixth inning.
 
In game two, Rensselaer busted out the bats scoring nine times on 14 hits. RIT would have eight hits, but leave six runners on base. Sam Killian (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) would go 2-for-3 with RIT's lone RBI.
 
The Engineers would get on the board with a solo home run off the bat of Courtney McArthur in the second inning and blow the game open with five runs in the third inning. Ten Eyck would have the big hit, a two-run single. Rensselaer would end the game in the sixth inning, with three straight run-scoring singles.
 
Five different Engineers had at least two hits. Victoria Hepworth earned the win on the mound, scattering eight hits over 5 2/3 innings.
 
RIT is right back in action on Sunday with a road doubleheader against league foe Union College that begins at 1 p.m.