Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

TROY, N.Y. – Senior Tori Hunt and sophomore Danielle Balestrini each collected five hits to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) softball team to a doubleheader sweep of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), this afternoon in Liberty League play from Doris Robison Field. With wins of 5-0 and 6-2, the Engineers improve to 16-10 overall (6-2 Liberty), while the Tigers drop to 4-18 (2-6 Liberty).
 
RPI jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of game one. Freshman Morgan Kollmeier (Kennett Square, PA/Kennett) led off the frame with a double off the fence in center, before Balestrini (Lake Placid, NY/Lake Placid) dropped down a bunt single. A miss-handled ball at first allowed Kollmeier to score all the way from second.
 
Three batters later, sophomore Taylor Ten Eyck (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland) plated Balestrini with a single to right. Morgan Ten Eyck (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland) followed with a sacrifice fly to left to cap the scoring.
 
Taylor Ten Eyck added a pair of insurance runs in the third, when she smacked her team-leading third home run of the season over the wall in left. The two-run shot made it 5-0, and the Engineers were able to hold on from there.
 
Junior righthander Kristina Weltzin (Commerce Town, MI/Walled Lake Northern) improved to 9-3 with the complete-game shutout victory. She allowed four hits in 7.0 innings, striking out six, while walking just two. RIT starter Sierra Valentine (Rochester, NY/Aquinas) gave up five runs (4 earned) on 10 hits in 6.0 innings.
 
In game two, RIT struck first on an RBI-groundout off the bat of junior shortstop Sarah Wolcott (Cohocton, NY/Wayland-Cohocton) in the top of the first inning.
 
Rensselaer answered with a five-run second. Senior third baseman Dani Grage (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) got the scoring started with a two-run single up the middle. Following an RBI-base hit from Balestrini, Hunt (Cheshire, MA/Hoosac Valley) drove home two more with a double down the left field line to make it 5-1.
 
After RIT drew to within 5-2 when freshman Amber Libby (Waterboro, ME/Massabesic) drove a single up the middle in the third, the Engineers came back with a sac fly from Taylor Ten Eyck in the fourth, to regain the four-run (6-2) lead.
 
Sophomore Victoria Hepworth (Chester, MA/Holyoke) earned the complete-game win from the circle, surrendering two runs on six hits in 7.0 innings. She struck out five and walked four. Anna Valentine (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) went the distance for the Tigers, giving up six runs in 9 hits in 6.0 innings.
 
The Engineers are back in action on Wednesday, when they host Utica for a doubleheader (3:30pm). RIT travels to SUNY Geneseo for two on Wednesday (3pm).