TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) softball team heads to their fourth NCAA Tournament in program history and first appearance since 2017, as the Engineers will take on Endicott at 2 p.m. on Thursday in their opening game of the regional hosted by MIT.
RPI finished the regular season with a 31-7 overall record, with a near-perfect 13-1 record in Liberty League play. The Engineers won their opening game of the Liberty League tournament 8-0 in five innings over Union before falling twice on Friday to Ithaca and eventual tournament champion Rochester.
The Engineers resume for their at-large bid was strong, boasting wins over four automatic bid teams in the NCAA Tournament field (Williams, Rochester, Redlands, UWisconsin-Lacrosse). The Engineers longest winning streak of the season came at 16 games, falling short of the program record 19 wins (2006).
RPI was well-represented in the Liberty League postseason awards, with seven student-athletes selected to all-conference teams. In addition, the Engineers brought home three of the four major awards led by senior
Alexis Cooke and freshman
Callista Adorno. Cooke took home the league's Pitcher of the Year, while Adorno was tabbed the league's Rookie of the Year. Head Coach
Amber Maisonet and assistant coach
Katie Wysocki were also named the Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year.
Cooke and Adorno were each selected All-Conference First Team, along with graduate student
Erin Askins who earned her second straight selection. Earning second team honors were junior
Alex Ledger, senior
Gabby Comeau, and freshman
Sydney Speanburg and
Evann McDowell.
Askins made a major case to be the league's player of the year, putting up a .452 batting average from the leadoff spot in the Engineers lineup. Her batting average ranked second to Union's Karson Saunders – the league's offensive player of the year - while she sits top five in almost every offensive category. At the conclusion of the regular season, she was tied for first in triples (5), second in on-base percentage (.546), runs scored (43), total bases (73), walks (23), third in slugging percentage (.629), fifth in stolen bases (18), and sixth in doubles (11). Her clutch two-out, two-strike hit against Clarkson to keep the Engineers win streak alive is a highlight of her season.
Cooke has been a big part of the success in the circle, not allowing an earned run throughout Liberty League play for an 0.00 ERA. Cooke impressed throughout the season, putting up a team-best 2.37 ERA over 21 appearances. Cooke collected 14 wins, and led the pitching staff with 93.2 total innings.
The Engineers have multiple pitching options, with graduate student
Erika Holowka and senior
Brooke Sroczinski rounding out the top part of the pitching staff. Holowka collected 13 wins just behind Cooke. Sroczinski leads all pitchers in the league with 10 total saves, while all three are in the top 11 pitchers in ERA. All three are also top 10 in the league in hits surrendered. At the end of the regular season, Sroczinski held a batting average against of .228, which ranked fifth among all pitchers in the league.
RPI looks to eclipse the program's most wins in a single season (35 – 2006), as they sit at 32 this season. Along with 2006, this is the only season in program history that the Engineers have eclipsed 30 wins.
