TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) softball team is the top seed and host of the 2018 Liberty League Tournament, which begins on Thursday afternoon at Doris Robison Field and runs through Saturday. The Engineers will face fourth seed Union College, while second seed Ithaca College will open against third seed University of Rochester.
Led by nine-year head coach
Amber Maisonet, the Engineers are 23-9 overall, including a program-best 13-1 mark in Liberty League play, winning the regular season title for the second straight year.
Rensselaer, which is batting .291 as a team, is led by senior catcher
Christine White (Acushnet, MA/Tabor Academy), who is hitting .340 (35 for 103) with a team-best nine doubles, a triple, 16 runs scored and 26 runs batted in. Sophomore outfielder
Veronica DeStefano (Emerson, NJ/Emerson) is second at .330 (35 for 106), with six doubles, a triple, 27 runs, 23 RBI and 19 stolen bases. Fellow sophomore and shortstop
Cam Caswell (Prospect, CT/Woodland Regional) rounds out the top three at .322 (29 for 90) with seven doubles, three triples, 23 runs and 26 RBI.
From the circle, senior
Sarah Harms (Wilsonville, OR/Wilsonville) is 15-5 with a 1.83 earned run average in 22 appearances (15 starts). She has allowed 89 hits in 107.0 innings, striking out 60, while walking 25. She holds the opposition to a .227 batting average. Sophomore
Jaime Cleasby (Windham, NH/Windham) is 8-4 with a 2.47 ERA in 102.0 innings. She has struck out 75 and walked 34.
The Engineers clinched the top seed in the conference tournament on April 22 by sweeping Skidmore College. Ithaca (11-3 Liberty League) took second in the conference, while Rochester (8-5) wound up third. Union qualified as the fourth seed, going 6-6 in the league after an 0-12 conference mark last season.
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 (12pm and as second if necessary).
For more information as well as updated scores, live stats and video, visit the tournament page at www.rpiathletics.com/LLSB18.
