Courtesy: Yellowjackets Athletics
Rochester ran its softball winning streak to eight straight games on Monday with a doubleheader sweep of Liberty League opponent Rensselaer at Doris Robison Field on the RPI campus. UR scored six runs in the last two innings to post a 7-1 victory in the first game. In the nightcap, the Yellowjackets scored three runs in the top of the seventh to take a 5-2 lead, then had to fend off an Engineer rally in the last half for a 5-4 victory.
Coupled with the Saturday sweep of Skidmore College, Rochester improved to 10-12 overall, 4-0 in the Liberty League. RPI, which swept RIT on Saturday, is 14-12 overall, 2-2 in the Liberty League. Rochester will play at RIT on Friday, then will host Ithaca College on Saturday at Southside Field. Both dates are doubleheaders.
Abbie Biggs earned the victory in both ends of the DH for Rochester. In the opener, she threw 2.1 innings of no-hit relief and was rewarded when the Yellowjackets hit a two-run HR in the sixth (by Hannah Keiper) and a grand slam by Ally Kim in the seventh inning. She started game two and pitched into the seventh inning before Christin Napierkowski for the last two outs for the save. Biggs is 3-1.
Game One:
Rochester 7, RPI 1: The Yellowjacket bats came to life in the latter innings to produce the win. UR was held to one hit through four innings (Kim doubled to lead off the game). In the fifth, Hunter Gilbreath walked and Kristen Myers ran for her. Madi Turner bunted Myers to second. After a strikeout, pinch-hitter Bryce West singled to left center to put Rochester up, 1-0.
RPI tied it with an unearned run in the fifth off Lauren Keys. She retired the first two hitters before Jessica Torch singled and stole second. When the throw went into centerfield, Torch raced to third. She scored on a single by Worthington. Keys left and Biggs took over. She closed the inning getting a foul pop to left. Keys pitched 4.2 innings, allowing seven hits, one unearned run, with no walks and two strikeouts.
Rochester quickly broke the tie. Bailey Nicholoff doubled to right center with one out. That chased RPI starter Alexis Cooke (5.1 IP, three hits, one walk, three strikeouts, two earned runs). Rightfielder Brooke Sroczinski relieved. Keiper homered for a 3-1 lead.
Biggs maneuvered out of a sixth inning jam. With one down, an infield error put a runner on first. She was erased when Sroczinski hit a groundout. Biggs walked Madie Campagna, but struck out Caroline Peel to get out of it. She set down the Engineers in order in the seventh.
Rochester broke it open in the seventh. Pinch-hitter Jenna Gorecki singled for Molly Mason along with Savannah Nowak. Mason was caught off second base, but the Engineers threw the ball away and it put the women on second and third. Alexis Klee walked and Kim hit a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence for a grandslam.
Game Two:
Rochester 5, RPI 4: Biggs pitched a gutty 6.1 innings and worked her way out of two trouble spots as each team tried to seize control. UR took a 1-0 lead when Kim singled in the first, stole second and third, then scored on Keiper’s flyout to right.
RPI, helped by an error, scored two unearned runs in the second for its first lead of the day. With one down, Campagna singled. After a flyout, she moved to second on an infield single by Chloe Lewandowski. Ryleigh Greenwald walked to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Alex Ledger reached on a fielding error which scored Campagna to tie it at 1-1. Worthington’s single made it 2-1.
Biggs didn’t get rattled. From the popout to end the second, through the fifth inning, she retired10 of 11 Engineers, seven on groundouts. Rochester evened the game in the third. Klee singled and stole second. She moved to third on Kim’s flyball to center and scored on Nicholoff’s flyout to right field. Keiper reached on an error and West ripped a double to center, but RPI’s Erik Holowka retired Gilbreath to avoid further damage.
The Yellowjackets put runners on in the fourth, fifth, and sixth – a total of three singles – but Holowka kept the game at 2-2. Biggs faced a challenge in the RPI sixth. A walk, a wild pitch, and a sac bunt left pinch runner Megan Wampner on third base with one out. Peel grounded the ball to second base. Mason threw home and Gilbreath applied the tag to keep it at 2-2. Biggs threw away a comebacker and Peel raced to third. Biggs retired Greenwald on a popout back to the mound.
Rochester’s ability to produce clutch hits popped up in the top of the seventh. With one out, Kim was hit by a pitch. She promptly stole second. Nicholoff walked. Keiper singled to center for the go-ahead run. Myers came in to run and West lashed a double inside the third base line that scored Nicholoff and West.
Torch and Worthington singled leading off the RPI seventh. They got caught in a rundown, but UR threw the ball away, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Erin Askins popped out to Biggs. Comeau grounded a single to deep centerfield, bringing home both runners and cutting the UR lead to 5-4. Napierkowski, who earned a win in relief on Saturday, induced Liv Vizzini to force the runner at second. Then she retired Campagna on a flyout to right field.
The Yellowjackets swept Skidmore on Sunday in Saratoga Springs, scoring 28 runs. Nicholoff hit three home runs and drove in 10 for the U of R.
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