NCAA TOURNAMENT BOUND
The Engineers have qualified for the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in school history and the first time since 2006 ... RPI's two previous regional appearances took place at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. ... This year, the Engineers travel to Williamstown, Mass. for a four-team regional, hosted by Williams College ... The grouping includes Rensselaer's first opponent, The College of Staten Island and Thomas College (ME).

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
RPI opens regional play against Staten Island on Friday at Cole Field ... First pitch is scheduled for 1pm ... Host Williams then takes on Thomas at 3:30pm ... The winners of Games 1 and 2 square off on Saturday morning (11am), with the losers following at 1:30pm ... The first elimination game will take place at 4pm that day ... Sunday's championship round will begin at 12pm, with a second game to follow if necessary.

RPI VS. THE FIELD
The Engineers have never faced The College of Staten Island or Thomas College, but have played 41 games all-time against Williams, including two this year ... The Ephs swept a doubleheader at Doris Robison Field on April 13, winning 4-3 and 14-2 in five innings.

RENSSELAER AT THE PLATE
Senior captain Stephanie Caudle is batting a team-best .390 (41 for 105) with nine doubles, seven home runs, 17 runs scored and 39 runs batted in ... She has a .676 slugging percentage and a .472 on-base percentage ... Junior Devan Puhl is second at .370 (47 for 127) with eight doubles, one triple, 28 runs and 23 RBI ... She has a .449 slugging percentage and a .391 on-base percentage ... Junior Chelsea Elliott rounds out the top three at .345 (20 for 58) with two doubles, two homers, nine runs and 12 RBI ... She has a .483 slugging percentage and a .409 save percentage.

ENGINEERS PITCHING
Senior captain Stephanie Caudle is 14-4 with a 1.80 earned run average in 25 appearances (18 starts) ... She has 12 complete games and six shutouts, with three saves ... Allowing 72 hits in 112.2 innings, she has struck out 122 batters and walked 29 ... Opponents are hitting .177 off of her ... Junior Sarah Harms is 5-1 with a 3.02 earned run average in 14 games (6 starts) ... She has surrendered 52 hits in 48.2 innings striking out 30 and walking 20 ... Freshman Jaime Cleasby is 6-6 with a 3.25 ERA in 71.0 innings of work ... She has 48 strikeouts compared to 13 walks and allows a .284 opponent average.

FIVE NAMED ALL-LEAGUE
The Liberty League handed out its year-end awards this week and five Rensselaer players were named to All-League teams, including Player of the Year, Stephanie Caudle ... Devan Puhl joined Caudle on the first time, while freshman Cam Caswell and junior Victoria Greco earned Second Team honors ... Junior Rebecca Kienz made Honorable Mention.

CAUDLE IS BACK-TO-BACK POTY
For the second consecutive year, Stephanie Caudle was named the Liberty League Player of the Year ... She ranks in the top five in a number of offensive categories, including batting average (.390), home runs (7), runs batted in (39), slugging percentage (.676) and on-base percentage
(.472) ... In the circle, she was among the league leaders in wins (14), ERA (1.80), innings pitched (112.2), strikeouts (122) and opponent average (.177).

STAFF HONORED
Rensselaer head coach Amber Maisonet earned her fourth Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year award and her first since 2013 ... The staff includes third-year assistant Mandy Ferro, who is a former pitcher at Siena College.

SCOUTING STATEN ISLAND
The Dolphins (34-7) went a perfect 12-0 in CUNY play before winning the conference tournament with wins over Baruch (5-0), Lehman (9-1) and Hunter (5-0) ... They sport a .352 team batting average with 22 home runs ... CSI has outscored the opposition 296-57 and has a team ERA of 1.00, with 198 strikeouts in 258.0 innings.

DOLPHINS LEADERS
Patricia Riches is hitting a team-best .536 (67 for 125) with 13 doubles, three triples, five home runs, 45 runs scored and 47 runs batted in ... Antoinette Galbo is second at .395 (47 for 119) with eight doubles, two triples, 41 runs and 25 RBI ... Vanessa Jioia rounds out the top three hitters at .377 (40 for 106) with five doubles, one triple, five homers, 25 runs and 28 RBI ... In the circle, Jacqueline Cautela is 15-3 with a 0.78 earned run average in 18 starts ... She has 17 complete games, including six shutouts, with 76 strikeouts in 116.0 innings.

EPHS OUTLOOK
The regional hosts from Williams (31-10) went 11-1 in the NESCAC, before topping Trinity (3-2) and Amherst twice (3-2) and 9-1) to take the conference tournament and earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament ... The Ephs have a .317 team batting average with 41 home runs ... They have a 230-125 scoring advantage over the opposition and have a 2.56 staff ERA, with 181 strikeouts in 273.1 innings ... Williams is a perfect 12-0 at home this year and have hit 23 of their 41 home runs at Cole Field, despite playing just 12 of 41 games there.

WILLIAMS LEADERS
Junior Lexi Curt has a team-high .417 batting average in 41 games ... She has 15 doubles, a triple, 10 home runs and 36 runs batted in ... Sophomore Mackenzie Murphy is second at .405 with 12 doubles, a triple, eight homers and 31 RBI ... Freshman Rebecca Duncan rounds out the top three at .381 with seven doubles, a triple, six homers and 28 RBI ... Duncan is 13-4 with a 1.83 earned run average in 13 starts for the Ephs ... Murphy is 10-4 with a 2.69 ERA.

SCOUTING THOMAS
The Terriers (14-21) posted a 7-5 record in the North Atlantic Conference's regular season, before winning the league tournament ... Thomas defeated Castleton (5-1), Husson (5-3) and Castleton again (2-0) to claim the auto bid into the NCAAs ... The Terriers are hitting .277 as a team with five home runs ... Getting outscored 196-139 by the opposition, Thomas' pitching staff has a 4.95 earned run average in 35 games, striking out 77 in 220.2 innings.

FOR THE TERRIERS
Senior Madison Bentz has a team-best .344 batting average in 33 games ... She has four doubles, a triple, 15 runs and eight runs batted in ... Classmate Courtney Veilleux is second at .326 with three doubles, two triples, 17 runs and 17 RBI ... Sophomore Sydney LeBourveau rounds out the top three batters at .313 with 11 doubles, a triple, two home runs, 15 runs and 14 RBI ... In the circle, LeBourveau is 10-10 with a 2.95 earned run average ... She has allowed 145 hits in 133.0 innings, striking out 51 and walking 40.

RPI IN THE TOURNAMENT
The Engineers are 3-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, dating back to 2000 ... All seven previous tournament games took place at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. ... RPI went 2-2 in 2000, defeating St. Joseph's (NY) and New England College after dropping the opener to Salisbury ... The Engineers were then eliminated by the host Bombers ... In 2006, Rensselaer opened with a win over Elms, before dropping games to Ithaca and Union.

14 WIN, 40 RBI CLUB
Senior Stephanie Caudle and Jen Bach '11 are the only RPI softball players in school history to win at least 14 games in the circle and drive in at least 40 runs at the plate ... Bach did so in her senior season of 2011, while Caudle went 14-5 with 41 RBI last season ... This year, she is 14-4 with 39 RBI, needing to drive in one run to became the first player to do so twice.
VS. CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
The Engineers did not face a team from the CUNY this season, but went 2-0 against NAC opposition, sweeping Castleton in a doubleheader (9-1 and 7-0) ... RPI did not face a NESCAC team other than Williams.

FIRST MEETING(S)
Friday's match-up with The College of Staten Island will be the first in school history ... RPI has also never faced Thomas College (ME) in its history.

FAMILIAR FOE
The Engineers have faced Williams 41 times in school history and are 16-24-1 in those contests ... The Ephs have won five of the last six meetings, including a doubleheader sweep of the Engineers earlier this year.

ENGINEERS IN WILLIAMSTOWN
RPI has a winning record in games played in Williamstown, Mass., going 10-9-1 since its first ever visit on May 5, 1982 - a 12-4 victory ... The Engineers are 8-8-1 at Cole Field, which opened in 1987.

RECENTLY
Despite Williams owning a 5-1 mark in the last six series games overall, RPI is 4-1 on the road since April of 2012.

LIBERTY LEAGUE CHAMPS
The Engineers won the 2017 Liberty League Tournament Championship after rain shortened the competition by two days ... Weather pushed back three games from Friday to Saturday and forced a cancellation of Sunday's championship with Clarkson ... The tournament win is the first for RPI since 2013.