TROY, N.Y. - For just the second time this season, the No. 16 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) softball team saw a game go into the loss column on Saturday afternoon, as a first game comeback in a 4-2 win preceded a 6-4 loss in game two of a doubleheader at Doris Robison Field.
Game 1
After falling behind 2-0 early, a three-run bottom of the fifth inning lifted the Engineers to a 4-2 victory.
RPI pitcher
Brooke Sroczinski ran into trouble in the third inning, as she surrendered an RBI double to Riley Laygo and an RBI single to Hannah Keiper as Rochester grabbed a 2-0 lead.
With runs between the two clubs at a premium with Sroczinski and Rochester's Molly Broccolo - two of the top pitchers in the Liberty League - both pitching, the score stayed stagnent until the bottom of the fifth.
Sydney Speanburg led off the inning with a single through the left side of the infield before
Ryleigh Falvey and
Erin Askins both reached on bunt singles to load the bases with nobody out. A weak ground ball from
Emma Newberry that saw an unsuccessful play up the middle scored a run, getting RPI on the board to make it 2-1.
After Rochester collected a pair of outs on the next batter,
Alex Ledger found the left center field gap to score a pair before she was thrown out trying to leg out a double to make the score 3-2 in favor of RPI.
Sroczinski remained poised down the stretch, holding Rochester off the board for the remainder of the game - finishing with eight strikeouts - while the offense added a insurance run in the sixth. Speanburg hit another ball to the left side of the infield with a runner on third, and was misplayed for an error to allow the run to score.
Game 2
Rochester's Lauren Keys held down the RPI offense in the second game of the day, as the Yellow Jackets held off the Engineers 6-4.
Five combined runs went up on the board for Rochester in the span of the third and fourth innings, before adding yet another in the sixth. The first blow came off the bat of Keiper, a double to the left center field gap to score a pair in the top of the third. Keys helped her own cause with an RBI single of her own in the third, while the highlights came from Jenna Gorecki - as she had a pair of RBI singles with one in the fourth and the sixth and final run for Rochester in the sixth.
With things looking down for the Engineers, they found a spark in the bottom of the sixth with one swing. A walk to Askins, a single from
Evann McDowell, and a hit by pitch to
Callista Adorno loaded the bases for RPI. Ledger then delivered her second big swing of the day, this time with distance as she smacked a grand slam to bring the score to 6-4 and still nobody out in the inning.
However despite their best effort, Rochester's Maddie White held the Engineers off the board the rest of the way as White collected her third save of the season.
RPI returns to action this Wednesday, April 24 at 3:30 p.m. when they host Hamilton in a doubleheader at Doris Robison Field.
