Box Score

ROCHESTER, NY – Playing in its second straight elimination game, Union College edged Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 2-1 to stay alive at the 2015 Liberty League Softball Tournament on Friday afternoon at Southside Field.
 
The Dutchwomen (15-19) took the field just an hour after winning 2-0 over Skidmore in the first elimination game of the day.  RPI (20-15) dropped both its games on Friday, falling to Rochester 6-0 in the winners bracket game before losing in the nightcap to Union.
 
Allyson Staats was again the hero in the circle for Union, tossing her third straight complete game in the tournament, allowing just 6 hits, 1 run while walking none and striking out 5.
 
Union would get on the board first, pushing an unearned run across on a Linsay Cohen double down the left field line.
 
After RPI starter Kristina Weltzin escaped a 2-on, 1-out jam in the top of the fourth, the Engineers would even the score in the bottom of the inning behind a solo blast down the right field line by Stephanie Caudle.
 
In the 5th, Union would load the bases with one out, chasing Weltzin from the circle in the process.  RPI's Caudle, who would relieve, escaped with no harm as Joanna Chalifoux would line into an inning ending double play.
 
The Dutchwomen would then grab the lead in the 6th.  After Staats led off with a double and was pinch ran for, Camile Corbin reached on an infield single to put runners on the corners.  The next hitter, Molly O'Brien, would hit a swinging bunt that the pitcher Caudle couldn't handle and would have allowed the run to score anyways, putting Union up 2-1.
 
Corbin made the play of the game in the bottom of the inning, throwing out the potential game tying run in the bottom of the 6th inning trying to tag up on a fly ball to center, preserving Union's 2-1 lead.
 
Staats then sat down the Engineers 1-2-3 in the 7th to seal the victory, her 15th of the season.  RPI's Weltzin went 4 innings, allowed 3 hits and 1 unearned run and 1 walk.  Caudle finished up with the final 3 innings, allowed 3 hits, 1 run with 2 strikeouts.
 
At the plate, Corbin was the only Union player with multiple hits, going 2-for-3.  Caudle was 2-3 with a home run for RPI while Morgan Kollmeier added a 2-3 game.
 
The victorious Union squad now moves on to Sunday's championship round against 2-0 and top-seeded Rochester.  If UR wins game one at 10 am on Saturday, Rochester wins the title.  But if Union manages to steal the first game, the same two teams will play a winner-take-all final game to determine the Liberty League's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament.