ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) softball team opened play at the Liberty League Championship this afternoon at host Rochester, falling 11-8 to Ithaca.
RPI came out swinging and grabbed an early advantage in the top of the first.
Sydney Speanburg worked a leadoff walk and advanced on
Evann McDowell's sacrifice bunt before
Callista Adorno was hit by a pitch to put two aboard. After
Olivia Termi moved both runners up with a groundout,
Addison Shaffer delivered the biggest swing of the inning, launching a three-run homer to left to give the Engineers a 3-0 lead.
Ithaca answered quickly, trimming the margin to 3-1 on Haley Petrucci's solo homer in the bottom half, but RPI added on in the second. Speanburg was hit by a pitch and McDowell ripped an RBI double to right-center to push the lead to 4-1.
The Bombers continued to chip away, scoring in the second and third to make it a one-run game, before turning the momentum with a four-run fourth.
RPI responded in the fifth with its best rally of the day. Termi singled and moved into scoring position, and after
Maddy Brooks singled,
Lauren Cosselman lined an RBI single to right. A throwing error on the play brought home two more runs, and
Ryleigh Falvey followed with a walk and then swiped second as the Engineers reclaimed the lead, 7-7, with three runs crossing in the inning.
Ithaca answered again in the bottom of the fifth, using three straight singles to regain the lead and then Petrucci delivered a two-run single up the middle to make it 10-7.
RPI pushed across an unearned run in the sixth, Termi walked and later scored when Shaffer reached on a dropped fly in left, but Ithaca added insurance on Ava Rao's solo homer in the bottom half for the eventual 11-8 final.
Speanburg reached base four times (two walks and two hit-by-pitches) and scored twice, while Termi finished with two runs scored, a hit, and two walks. Shaffer drove in three with her first-inning homer and added another run-scoring sequence in the sixth, and Cosselman went 1-for-4 with an RBI and scored once. Brooks had a strong day at the plate as well, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
RPI will next face St. Lawrence in the elimination bracket tomorrow at 12:30 pm.
