TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) softball team is the second seed in the 2015 Liberty League Tournament, which begins on Thursday afternoon at Southside Field and runs through Saturday. The Engineers open against third seed Union, while top seed Rochester hosts fourth seed Skidmore.
Led by fifth-year head coach
Amber Maisonet, the Engineers are 19-13 overall, going 8-4 in the Liberty League.
Rensselaer is led offensively by sophomore utility player
Stephanie Caudle (Gainesville, FL/Gainesville), who is batting .405 (30 for 74) with five home runs, 11 doubles, 13 runs scored and 20 runs batted in. Senior captain and third baseman
Jena Servidone (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia) is second at .316 (31 for 98) with five doubles, a triple, 16 runs and 10 RBI. Junior catcher
Taylor Ten Eyck (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland) is hitting .295 (31 for 105) with five doubles, two homers, 13 runs and 18 RBI, while playing .992 defense.
From the circle, senior
Kristina Weltzin (Commerce Town, MI/Walled Lake Northern) is 9-7 with a 2.44 earned run average in 17 appearances (all starts). She has allowed 74 hits in 111.2 innings, striking out 94, while walking 45. Opponents are hitting just .182 off of her, which is the best in the Liberty League. Just 0.1 of an inning shy of 600 for her career, she is the school's all-time record holder in games pitched (113), starts (93), complete games (67), innings (599.2), wins (61) and strikeouts (511).
Caudle is 9-5 with a league-low 1.81 ERA in 17 appearances (10 starts). She has allowed 80 hits in 92.2 innings, striking out 103. Her 18 strikeouts against against SUNY New Paltz on March 25 set a single-season school record.
The Engineers are batting .267 as a team, collecting 12 home runs, two triples and 40 doubles. They are outscoring their opponents 134-99 this season. RPI hurlers have a combined 2.35 earned run average and are giving up a .212 batting average against, which are both tops in the Liberty League.
The double-elimination league tournament has two games schedule for Thursday (2pm and 4:30pm), three on Friday (10am, 12:30pm and 3pm) and at least one on Saturday (10am and if nec.).
