TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) softball team has qualified for the 2022 Liberty League Tournament as the third seed and will travel to Rochester, N.Y., this week to take part in the double-elimination event. The Engineers will open play against second seed Ithaca College on Thursday at 2:30pm.

RPI, which is led by 12th-year head coach Amber Maisonet, enters postseason play with a 23-15 overall record, going 10-4 over its Liberty League schedule. The Engineers have a .315 team batting average and a .369 on-base percentage. The club has scored 221 runs and allowed 170, while going 62 of 67 on stolen base attempts. In the circle, RPI has a team earned run average of 3.72 and has recorded 255 strikeouts in 250 innings.

Individually, junior catcher Gabby Comeau (Plainville, MA / Bishop Feehan) leads the team with a .438 batting average (57 for 130) with 15 doubles, a home run, 16 runs scored and 40 runs batted in. She has compiled a .460 on-base percentage and a .577 slugging percentage. Senior Erin Askins (Tehachapi, CA / Tehachapi) is second at .384 (48 or 125) with 15 doubles, three triples, two homers, 40 runs and 36 RBIs. She has a .451 on-base percentage and a .600 slugging percentage, while classmate Jessica Torch (Boonton Township, NJ / Mountain Lakes) rounds out the top three batters with a .382 average (52 for 136) with two doubles, one triple, 35 runs and eight RBIs. She leads the team in steals, swiping 25 bags in 28 tries.

Senior righthander Erika Holowka (Forked River, NJ / Lacey Township) leads the RPI pitching staff with a 10-5 record and a 3.02 earned run average. She has struck out 98 batters in 95.0 innings, allowing a .270 opponent batting average. Junior Alexis Cooke (Newton, NJ / Kittatinny Regional) is 8-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 20 appearances (17 starts), striking out 91 in 90.0 innings, while classmate Brooke Sroczinski (Raynham, MA / Bishop Feehan) is 5-2 with three saves and a 3.11 ERA in 18 games (4 starts). She allows a team-best .238 opponent average and has struck out 63 batters in 56.1 innings.

The winner of the RPI/Ithaca contest will advance to the winners' bracket and will face the winner of the Rochester/Skidmore game on Friday at 12:30pm. The loser will play in the first elimination game of the tournament on Friday morning at 10am.

Full schedule and results for the Liberty League Tournament can be found here. Live stats can be found here, while live video (pay-per-view) can be found here.