RPI Athletics on InstagramROCHESTER, N.Y. - Senior
Kristina Weltzin set the school record for career wins, earning her 59th all-time, when the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) softball team defeated Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), 4-2, in game one of a Liberty League doubleheader. Weltzin threw a complete game in the record-setting victory, which snapped a tie with Larina Suker '00. The Engineers, who then won the nightcap, 12-1, in five innings, improve to 14-4 overall and 4-0 in the Liberty League. The Tigers drop to
The game was tied 2-2 going into the seventh inning when RPI freshman
Victoria Greco (Guilderland, NY / Guilderland) led off the frame with a single and a stolen base. She was sacrificed to third base and later scored on a wild pitch to give the visitors the lead. Senior
Danielle Balestrini (Lake Placid, NY / Lake Placid), who had singled herself, scored an unearned run later in the inning for the final margin. Weltzin (Commerce Town, MI / Walled Lake Northern) then got the Tigers in order to help the Engineers improve to 13-4 overall and 3-0 in the league. RIT falls to 3-10 and 0-1.
A righthander, Weltzin allowed just three hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Steph Caudle (Gainesville, FL / Gainesville), a first baseman, led Rensselaer from the plate, going 2 for 2 with a walk. Greco, the shortstop, was 1 for 2 with two runs scored.
Sophomore Sierra Valentine (Rochester, NY / Greece Athena) took the loss for RIT, which held a 2-0 lead in the contest. She allowed four hits and five walks with three strikeouts in seven innings.
Game two saw the Engineers score in every inning en route to a 13-1 win in five innings.
Junior
Morgan Ten Eyck (Guilderland, NY / Guilderland) got the scoring started in the top of the first, launching a three-run homer. Sophomore
Morgan Kollmeier (Kennett Square, PA / Kennett) added a sacrifice fly in the second, before RIT pulled a run back in the bottom half of the inning on a single by Amber Libby.
A four-run third inning put the game out of reach. Freshman
Devan Puhl (Frederick, MD / Linganore) and drove in run with a single to center, before Ten Eyck and freshman
Christine White (Acushnot, MA / Tabor Academy) came around to score on based balls.
White then hit her first collegiate home run in the top of the fourth. The two-run shot made it 10-1. Caudle capped the scoring in the fifth, with a two-run double to center.
RPI is back on the diamond tomorrow afternoon, when they play a doubleheader at the University of Rochester (1pm). RIT hosts Union College for two (1pm).