Knights Swept at RPI, 6-1 and 9-0

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Troy, NY - Kristina Weltzin allowed just one run in 12 innings to help lift Rensselaer to a two-game sweep of the Clarkson University Softball team, 6-1 and 9-0, as the Golden Knights wound down their first season of intercollegiate competition against the eventual regular-season champions on Sunday.

The Golden Knights closed the 2014 season with a record of 6-26 overall and 2-10 in Liberty League contests, while Rensselaer won the regular-season Liberty League title with a mark of 10-2 and are currently 20-14.

After a pair of narrow losses to Skidmore on Saturday, the Knights hung in against Rensselaer for a few innings before the Engineers' offense proved to be too much. RPI scored the first run of the game in the bottom half of the opening frame when Morgan Kollmeier led off with a single and then came around on a double to right-center by Tori Hunt. Clarkson responded in the top half of the second as Morgan Tennyson (Chestertown, NY) opened the inning with a walk. Alycia Short (Norfolk, NY) pinch-ran for Tennyson and advanced to second on a single by Ali Schwenzfeier (East Haddam, CT) and then to third on a fielder's choice that saw MacKenzie Pelton (Glens Falls, NY) reach first. The Knights then attempted a double steal with Pelton trying to move up to second, but in the interim Short dashed for home to score, while Pelton was eventually put out at second. The game would remained tied at 1-1 until the fourth when the Engineers got a one-out double from Morgan Ten Eyck, who later came around on a sacrifice fly from Dani Grage. In the bottom of the sixth, RPI put the game out of reach as Stephanie Caudile plated a pair with a single, Kollmeier drove in another with a single, and Danielle Balestrini lifted a sac fly to score the sixth run.

Schwenzfeier and MacKenzie Pelton each had singles, but those were the only two hits for the Knights off Kristina Weltzin, who fanned eight and walked one in seven innings. Kollmeier, Hunt, and Morgan Ten Eyck each had two hits for the Engineers.

In the second game, the Engineers needed just five innings to dispatch Clarkson by reaching the eight-run gap in the bottom half of the fifth. RPI scored four in the third and had plated two more in the fifth before Courtney McArthur drove a two-out three-run homer to end the game at 9-0. Clarkson was 0-for-16 at the plate in game two with just a pair of walks as Weltzin picked up her second win of the day, striking out seven in five frames. Morgan Ten Eyck went 3-for-3, and McArthur was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and three more driven home.

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