CLERMONT, Fla. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) softball team opened play at The Spring Games with a pair of five-inning wins today, rolling past Emmanuel (Mass.) 17-3 before blanking John Jay 9-0.
RPI jumped on the board immediately in the first inning of game one, as Sydney Speanburg doubled and eventually came home on a wild pitch, and Sarah Decker followed with an RBI double to make it 2-0.

Emmanuel answered with three runs in the top of the second on a bases-loaded triple, their only hit of the contest. The Engineers responded right back in the bottom half however, as Evann McDowell singled to set the table and Callista Adorno launched a three-run homer to center to swing the momentum back to RPI, 5-3.

The game broke open in the third with a 12-run outburst. Lauren Cosselman sparked the frame with a single and later scored, and Ryleigh Falvey drew a key walk during the rally. Speanburg delivered the biggest blow of the inning with a bases-clearing double for three RBI, and Kylie Grabler added an RBI single as a pinch hitter. Adorno kept piling on with an RBI single and later a double, while Addison Shaffer capped a huge day with a pair of run-scoring doubles, first a three-RBI double and later another two-RBI two-bagger, to push the lead to 17-3.

Speanburg paced the offense by reaching base four times, going 2-for-2 with two doubles, four runs scored, and three RBI. Adorno went 3-for-3 with a home run, double, four runs, and three RBI, while Shaffer finished 3-for-4 with five RBI and three doubles.

In the circle, Callie Volker earned the win with 3.0 innings, allowing just the one hit before Natalie Kopf tossed two scoreless innings in relief, yielding no hits and striking out one.

RPI put together a decisive five-run second inning to seize control of the afternoon's second game. Gaby Heim started the rally with a single and later scored on Falvey's sacrifice fly. McDowell followed with an RBI single, Shaffer ripped a two-run double, and Decker added an RBI single to make it 5-0.

The Engineers added two more in the third as Maddy Brooks tripled and scored on an error before McDowell lifted a sacrifice fly to bring home Cosselman. In the fourth, RPI tacked on insurance runs with Cosselman's RBI double and Speanburg's RBI single, stretching the advantage to 9-0.

Brooks led the way offensively, going 2-for-3 with a double, triple, two runs scored, and a stolen base. Heim added a 2-for-3 game with a double and two runs, while Cosselman reached base three times, scored three runs, and stole two bases. Shaffer drove in two with a double, and McDowell produced two RBI (RBI single and sac fly) while also swiping a bag.

Ava Markert started and earned the win with 3.0 scoreless innings, allowing no hits while striking out two. Jackie Cutting closed it out with a pair hitless innings in relief as RPI completed the shutout.

The Engineers are back in Clermont for two more games tomorrow. RPI starts with day with a 10:00 am matchup with Wartburg followed by a meeting with Illinois College at 12:15 pm.