RPI softball splits doubleheader with Rochester after comeback win in game one

TROY, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) — As the RPI softball team has skyrocketed to the top of the Liberty League amid a stellar season, only one team has been able to keep pace with the Engineers: Rochester.

Both squads entered a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Doris Robison Field with a 7-1 league record, and when the dirt settled, both sides emerged 8-2.

For just the second time this season, No. 16 RPI saw a game go into the loss column, dropping a 6-4 decision in game two. But that was after the Engineers pulled out a thrilling, come-from-behind victory in game one.

Game 1

After falling into an early 2-0 deficit, 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. She surrendered an RBI double to Riley Laygo and an RBI single to Hannah Keiper, as Rochester grabbed a 2-0 lead.

Runs between the two clubs were at a premium with Sroczinski and Rochester’s Molly Broccolo – two of the top pitchers in the Liberty League – both matching each other in circle. The scoreboard stayed stagnant until the bottom of the fifth.

Sydney Speanburg got the merry-go-round started with a single through the left side of the infield. Ryleigh Falvey and Erin Askins followed that up with back-to-back bunt singles, loading the bases with nobody out. A weak ground ball up the middle from Emma Newberry led to an unsuccessful force-out attempt at second base from Rochester. That allowed Speanburg to cross for RPI’s first run of the game.

After the Yellowjackets collected a pair of outs on the next batter, Alex Ledger hit a frozen rope to the left-center field gap, scoring a pair of Engineers before she was thrown out trying to leg out a double. The damage was done, though, and RPI moved in front 3-2.

“I was just making sure that [the ball] was spinning side-to-side and not up and down, because I know Molly has a great drop ball, and she got me multiple times last year and this year,” said Ledger in her recall of the at-bat. “I was just ready for something, like, up in the zone. And I finally got it.”

The offense added an insurance run in the sixth. Speanburg hit another ball to the left side of the infield with a runner on third. The ball was misplayed for an error, allowing the run to score.

Sroczinski stayed poised down the stretch, holding Rochester off the board for the remainder of the game. After her lone blemish in the third frame, she knew her offense would eventually come to her aid.

“I was so confident in everyone,” said Sroczinski. “Today we talked about passing the bat down the line. We’re not a team that hits home runs. We hit singles and move each other along. So that was really key for today.”

The graduate ace finished with eight strikeouts, and improved her record to 12-0 on the season.

“I just had to trust my spin. I knew that if I did my job by spinning the ball, [the] defense would do the job if it got hit.”

Rochester has been the regular season and tournament champion of the Liberty League the last three seasons (co-regular season champs with RPI last year). The Yellowjackets eliminated RPI from last season’s tournament, so Engineers head coach Amber Maisonet knows her team has a little extra giddy-up when they square off with the perennial power.

“[There’s] always motivation against Rochester,” said Maisonet. “We know they’re a great team. We know we have to play well. We know we have to bring our best to beat them. And it’s not necessarily what happened last year, or before. It’s just we know who we are this year and we’re going to come out swinging every day.”

Game 2

Rochester’s Lauren Keys tamped down the RPI offense in the second game of the day, as the Yellowjackets came out with a 6-4 victory.

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 that scored a pair in the top of the third. Keys helped her own cause with an RBI single in the third, while Jenna Gorecki struck twice against the Engineers pitching staff. She had a pair of RBI singles. The first came in the fourth frame. She delivered again in the sixth for Rochester’s sixth and final run.

With things looking down for the Engineers, they found a spark in the bottom half of the inning thanks to one swing of the bat from Ledger. 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 clutch hit of the day; this time with distance, as she smacked a grand slam to bring the score to 6-4 with still nobody out in the inning.

However, despite their best efforts, 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.

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