ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT softball team (20-11, 7-3 Liberty League) celebrated Senior Day by splitting a doubleheader against Liberty League rival Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (19-9, 6-2 Liberty League) at sun-soaked Tiger Stadium on Sunday afternoon. RPI won game one, 4-0, before RIT took game two, 3-1.
Between games, RIT honored seniors
Tori Blaker (Corning, NY/Corning-Painted Post West),
Alexa Farner (Gowanda, NY/Gownanda),
Sam Killian (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder),
Emma Sarles (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park), and
Sierra Valentine (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena).
In game one, RPI's Stephanie Caudle threw a perfect game, striking out 11 batters, while needing just 93 pitches. On the first at-bat of the day, Caudle hit
Erin Guinan (Geneva, NY/Geneva) with a 1-0 pitch, but Guinan was ruled to be in the box, negating the hit by pitch. From there, Caudle cruised, getting nine fly outs and a ground out in addition to the 11 strikeouts. She also hit Farner on consecutive pitches in the sixth inning, but it was ruled that Farner leaned in both times.
The Engineers would score two runs in the third inning and two in the sixth off of RIT starter
Sierra Valentine (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena). Valentine would take the loss, allowing eight hits and four runs, while striking out five in the complete-game.
Caudle dropped in a single to left field with the bases loaded in the third inning to give RPI the 1-0 lead, while the next batter, Chelsea Elliot drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 2-0. In the sixth, Maddie Provencher launched a two-run home run over the wall in left center field to complete the scoring. Victoria Greco also had three hits to lead the RPI attack.
In game two, the Engineers loaded the bases with one out on two walks and single and took a 1-0 lead on a RBI groundout by Elliot.
Caudle, who also started game two on the mound, finally gave up her first hit of the day in the second inning, as
Alexandria Lunderman (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) drilled a clean single to right field.
The Tigers would tie the game with a run-scoring ground out of their own, as with runners on first and second with one out in the third, Hotz hit a grounder to second base, scoring
Alexa Farner (Gowanda, NY/Gownanda). Farner singled and then wisely moved to third on a single to right center by Guinan.
Guinan would give RIT the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning, crushing her fourth home run of the season over the left field fence, a two-out, two-run shot, that made it 3-1 Tigers.
Tia Aunkst (Waterloo, NY/Waterloo) led off the inning with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner
Francesca Cusato (Schenectady, NY/Guilderland). Guinan would go 2-for-3.
Lauren Mahar (Rotterdam, NY/Schalmont) would settle down after the opening inning and scatter five hits, while walking three batters and striking out six in the complete-game gem for her eighth win of the season.
Caudle, who also had three hits in game two, took the loss, allowing six hits and three runs, while striking out four.
The win in game two was RIT's first against RPI since moving to the Liberty League in 2012.
The Tigers are back in action on Wednesday, April 26 with a pair of road contests at non-league foe Alfred University. The doubleheader gets underway at 3 p.m.
