Box Score

Senior Kristina Weltzin tossed a 4-hit complete game shutout as Rensselaer Polytechninc Institute defeated Union College 5-0 in the opening round of the 2015 Liberty League softball tournament on Thursday evening at Southside Field.
 
Weltzin's shutout is her third of the season and was the second straight 5-0 game to open the tournament as host and top-seeded Rochester defeated  Skidmore 5-0 in the tournament opener.  The senior allowed just four hits and three walks while striking out three.
 
RPI (20-13) will face Rochester in the 10 am winners bracket game on Friday morning while Union (13-19) will face off with Skidmore in the 12:30 elimination game.  The loser from the early game along with the winner of the elimination contest will face one another in a third game on Friday for the right to play the 2-0 team on Saturday for the championship.

The Dutchwomen had their best scoring chance come in the first inning off of Weltzin.  With two outs, Joanna Chalifoux drew a walk and then Allyson Staats singled up the middle to get two runners on.  Weltzin then induced an inning ending groundout to end the threat.
 
The Engineers would then look to strike early with a leadoff double from Danielle Balestrini in the bottom of the inning.  Union would follow with two nice defensive plays though, one by catcher Dani Hennell and the other by left fielder Lindsay Cohen, to negate the scoring chance.
 
In the third, RPI would break through with the first runs of the contest, all coming with two outs.  After back-to-back walks, Taylor Ten Eyck singled to left driving in Balestrini.  The next batter, Stephanie Caudle then lined a double to center to score the other two runs, putting RPI up 3-0.
 
Union would strand two runners on base again in the 4th and 5th innings while RPI would add single runs for insurance in the 5th and 6th.  In the 5th, Ten Eyck grounded out to second, scoring Balestrini and in the following inning, Jena Servidone added a suicide squeeze with runners on the corners to make the score 5-0.
 
For the Engineers, Balestrini was 2-2 with two runs and a walk in the game while both Ten Eyck and Caudle were 1-3 with two RBI.
 
Union's Staats provided nearly all the offense, going 3-3 at the plate.  She also tossed a complete game for the Dutchwomen, allowing 7 hits, 5 runs and 2 walks while striking out 1.